The Bond
by The Cheshire Cheese
Summary: The wormhole that brought Voyager home is now leaking Delta Quad aliens into Federation space. Cut down by Hirogen, Chakotay is rescued by his old flame from 8472. Problem: she wants to keep him. And in Fluidic Space, "love" is different. Seven, now a DS9 ensign, recruits Quark, Ro, and others to retrieve him. Chakotay and another prisoner, Romulan Captain Sela, fight to escape.
1. The Rescue

**A/N: **

**WARNING: Gore at the beginning, but doesn't persist throughout the story. **

**I don't own "Star Trek."**

* * *

_Don't look. _

_Keep your eyes shut. _

_Don't look._

The first time Chakotay had seen a deer get gutted, he'd vomited right into the fire pit. His father had then forced him to sit and watch two more deer get "cleaned," thinking he would toughen his son out by the end of the day, so he could start teaching Chakotay how to clean a kill. It backfired. Chakotay—about eight or nine then—ran off into the jungle and hid under some bushes, crying on and off, until his mother found him and brought him home. He never ate meat again. (Unless it was replicated.)

He'd had a recurring nightmare for a while, about being in the deer's position, except alive and conscious. The fear of getting gutted had faded away decades ago, buried under a pile of new fears Chakotay had been harboring. (Going crazy like Grandfather, dying alone, losing one of his close friends on Voyager, getting assimilated…) The "cleaning" nightmare resurfaced only once in his adulthood, after he led the away team to investigate the Hirogen ship for the first time.

_Don't look._

Inside his belly, the Hirogen's fist tightened.

Chakotay's eyes opened.

He was still standing in the dark woods, half bent over. He didn't remember dropping his phaser, but he could make out its shape on the ground. In one hand the Hirogen still held the oddly shaped blade he'd used to slice Chakotay opened seconds ago. The moonlight illuminated Chakotay's blood sliding down the metal. He'd plunged his other hand into the wound after Chakotay had stumbled and frozen in place, his body refusing to keep fighting.

With the hand that was inside him, the Hirogen shoved him backwards against a tree. Chakotay tasted iron, as blood shot up his throat and out his mouth. He slid down against the tree, until he was half sitting against it and half lying on the ground. The Hirogen followed him, lowering into a kneeling position.

"If you tell me where your comrades have taken off to," the Hirogen leaned in on him, "I'll take my hand out, and just my hand."

If "comrades" had meant shipmates from Voyager, or fellow Maquis, Chakotay might have been tempted to give in, with the excuse that they could fend for themselves. But "comrades" here meant "students," anthropology geeks between fifteen and twenty. So talking was out of the question.

He wanted to close his eyes again but didn't have the strength to. So he was forced to watch the Hirogen pull out a chunk of his small intestine. It didn't look quite like it had in those dreams. Amidst the searing pain, he was also overtaken with disbelief. Had he actually survived the Caretaker, the Dominion's massacre against the Maquis, the Borg, Species 8472, the "family curse," and gotten home from the Delta Quadrant after seven years, to get gutted by a god-damned Hirogen? (In the Alpha Quadrant no less?) Seven, Annika, flashed through his mind. What the sight of his mutilated remains would do to her. And Kathryn. His sister Sekaya…

The Hirogen was still talking, in a taunting voice, but Chakotay wasn't hearing any of it. He began silently praying to the Spirits, and begging his dead father for comfort, hoping something would show up at the last minute and save him, like all those times on Voyager and in the Maquis. Something. Something. What did he need? A starship with a sickbay to fly by, beam him up right now before he lost too much blood. Or find him just a minute or two after his death, and revive him. Or just wake up at home in bed, and find the universe was just playing a massive practical joke on him.

And suddenly, just as he was thinking that, something cracked through the dark woods.

The Hirogen's head turned, and Chakotay's eyes rolled up.

Species 8472 came bounding forward and stopped in front of them, heaving like a spider about to make a kill.

The sight made Chakotay's heart soar, because now he knew he was only dreaming. At first. Then he remembered that wormhole, the one the Hirogen had been coming through, and realized 8472 could have done the same. Hell, 8472 could open a rift to our universe wherever it wanted. Shit, even if 8472 wasn't here at all, he might simply be hallucinating because he was dying from trauma and blood loss.

8472 swung its arm and the Hirogen, and sent his head flying off into the night.

It was funny. He couldn't laugh at the moment, but the sight was funny. Chakotay never found decapitation funny. _I'm delirious, _he realized.

8472 moved around Chakotay on its three legs, eyeing him as if it knew…as if it knew _him._ Good or bad, he couldn't tell how it was regarding him. He recalled that it was a telepath, and began silently pleading for it to help him. Then he felt a jolt in his brain. It was similar to the feeling of getting "punched" in the head, while communicating with the Chaotic Space aliens. 8472 was trying to "talk" to him, but it wasn't working, because Chakotay wasn't a telepath. It could talk to Tuvok, all those years ago, because the Vulcan could receive its thoughts. With Chakotay, the reception was one-way. He opened his mouth to try speaking verbally, but only blood came out.

8472 fixed its stare on his abdomen. His guts were half inside him, half hanging out over his torso, with the dead Hirogen's hand still clawed inside them. 8472 pulled the Hirogen's hand away (Chakotay had never actually seen 8472 grab something with those oddly-shaped hands before). Then he sat there, seeing bright spots as the blood loss began to take hold. 8472's arm was swelling up. And then it shot out some warm goo, which covered Chakotay's entire abdomen and exposed intestines, and immediately hardened into a sort of rubbery sack.

It was possible that this purple gunk would infect his organs and make things worse in the long run. And it was possible that 8472 wanted him for experiments or some other fate worse than death. But Chakotay just couldn't make himself care. He felt nothing but a soar of relief. The alien moved one warm, lumpy hand behind his neck, and hooked the other under his legs. It looked enough like a rescue to him. He passed out peacefully.

* * *

As soon as Ensign Hanson's shift ended, she took off down the dark hallway towards Deep Space Nine's holodeck. She found herself thinking back on the past, comparing her life on Voyager to the new one she'd made on DS9. Both held a deep personal significance. She missed Voyager, terribly. But on this melting-pot space station, she'd felt less like an outsider, and more accepted, than she had anywhere before. No longer in need of her biosuits, she now wore a gray-and-black Starfleet uniform with the green undershirt of a science officer, and let her gold hair sit freely along her shoulders. Her cybernetic implants marked her as an outsider no more than Ezri Dax's spots, Colonel Kira's earring, or Quark's unfortunate facial structure. On a space station populated by misfits, no one was a misfit.

Vic Fontaine had done a bit of redecorating since she'd first come aboard Deep Space Nine a year ago, but the 1960s Vegas casino still had the same feel. Vic was a self-aware hologram like the Doctor, and the two had become fast friends since Voyager's return to Earth, often singing duets for Vic's customers. Seven herself sang on the stage now and then.

"Annie!" the suave gray-haired hologram greeted her. "Your pals are all waitin' for ya," he gestured to a table, where the small group she'd organized sat. "They were getting antsy, so I gave 'em a round of cocktails, on the house. I'm assuming it won't hurt their focus, since it's just _holographic _booze."

Seven smiled at her friend. "Thank you, Vic."

"I can get you one too, if you like. You look tense."

"Thank you, again. But no." Seven said, moving towards the table. "You said yourself, it's holographic, and likely wouldn't affect my jitters."

"But it still tastes good!" Ro Laren pointed out, from the table.

Ro Laren, a former Maquis like Chakotay, was now aboard DS9 serving for Bajor. She'd come aboard to replace Constable Odo as security chief, after the Changeling had departed to rejoin his people. She and Laren had become fast friends, no doubt due to the fact that they'd both spent a large portion of their lives feeling like outsiders, and coped with snarky attitudes.

Seven pulled up a chair at the round table, and realized she had no idea how to greet her recruits. "Hello," she said awkwardly. "We are all aware of why we're here."

No one from Voyager was present, because all those who were able or willing to help in their former commander's rescue were doing so, with Starfleet's official search party, led by Admiral Janeway. Seven, being his fiancé, was deemed too "emotionally involved" to partake in the search. So she'd organized her own. There was no law preventing concerned friends or family members from putting forth their own search efforts. Counselor Ezri Dax had convinced Colonel Kira to give Seven and Lt. Ro leave to go on this personal mission.

The group was small, but colorful—literally. Ro sat to her right. To her left was Ro's admirer, Quark, relishing the holographic drink Vic had given him. Two of Chakotay's anthropology students sipped their cocktails, still dressed in their Starfleet Academy uniforms: Thyk, a petite, young Andiroan man (well, person); and nineteen-year-old David Skokie, a tall lanky human, who went by his last name. Across from Seven sat a pair of women, in garments similar to those worn by the Maquis, but with brighter colors and more decorative tokens. One, human and brunette, was Fantine "Frenchy" Christophe, a former Maquis who'd evaded Starfleet authorities after the war, and turned to mercenary jobs and bounty hunting to earn a living. The other was her partner in crime, and possible lover, a green-skinned Orian woman named Nass. (Nass had been born without the pheromones most of her species possessed, preventing her from affecting other species the way most Orion women did.) Neither had ever met Chakotay. They'd contacted Seven, after she'd put a message in the news looking for help in the search party, because Christophe considered Chakotay a Maquis hero. And Nass simply went wherever "Frenchy" went. Seven also had a special artifact to pay the two mercenaries with, off the record. No one, not even Lt. Ro, knew about that part, and she wanted it to stay that way.

Seven glanced down at her PADD on the table. "I have updates from Starfleet, concerning Chakotay's disappearance. He's far from the only person to be…apprehended by the aliens coming in through the wormhole. Starfleet has its hands full, searching for all of the individuals and starships that have gone missing or otherwise fallen into distress. Admiral Janeway's team is doing their best, but I believe we can increase the odds ourselves."

"The Perfidia's small," Nass said, "She can get into spots other ships can't. And I'm the best pilot you could have." Her emerald eyes flicked to her companion. "And Frenchy's the best…well, at pretty much everything else."

"Navigation, tactical, shooting, punching," the Frenchwoman ticked it all off, in her low accented voice. "And a number of tricks I learned in the Maquis that they don't teach at Starfleet Academy."

"Same here," Ro said. "But I'll have a bit of multitasking to do. I told Colonel Kira that I was going to collect data on the new species coming in that might pose a threat to the space station."

"That would be wise, even if we weren't on a rescue mission," Seven mused.

Everyone was now looking at Quark, wondering why on earth the bartender—who rarely stuck his neck out for anyone—was embarking on a potentially dangerous mission for a casual friend, to rescue a man he'd never met nor had any particular interest in.

"I'm running a bar that caters to every species on the station!" Quark explained. "I need to found out what these Hirogen and Kazon and Vidians like to drink, what they eat, what features they like to see on a Dabboo girl…"

"You could ask _me_ to gather that information for you," Ro said, staring at him under un-amused eyebrows.

"You'll have your beautiful hands full!" Quark insisted.

Ro bit her lip, looking like she couldn't decide whether to punch Quark or blush.

Seven cocked an eyebrow. "If everyone's finished flirting, we'll get down to business."

"All right." Ro folded her hands around her empty glass, and looked at Seven with her piercing catlike eyes. "Where are we gonna start? The Alpha Quadrant, or the Delta Quadrant?"

Starfleet, of course, had ships in both, searching for all the missing persons and ships. It wasn't unreasonable that aliens from the Delta Quadrant could have brought or chased crews or individuals through that wormhole, into the Delta Quadrant. But Seven had another theory entirely.

"Neither," she said. "We'll start in Fluidic Space."

* * *

**A/N: More pointless commentary...**

**CROSSOVERS: This was meant to be a one-shot "Voyager" fic, with some cameos from DS9. But the whole story expanded like a cookie in the oven that was given too much dough, so now it's a short chapter-story that's a crossover of DS9, VOY, and TNG.  
**

**DS9: I vaguely followed the model of the novelized "eighth season," with Kira now in charge of the station, Ro Laren taking over Odo's security job, and Quark having the hots for Ro. However, I'm not trying too hard to make in consistent, as I haven't even read most of that series. **

**SELA: (Tasha Yar's Romulan daughter, from TNG) I love her, but it's been years since I saw her in an episode, and could find no videos online that showed her. So if she's seems out of character, let's just pretend it's because she's changed in the last few years since we last saw her. **

**HOW MANY MORE CHAPTERS: Hopefully only two or three. Because I want to get back to my other fics. And my original stories. And my social life. **


	2. Game of Wits

**A/N: I don't own "Star Trek."**

* * *

Chakotay woke in Voyager's sickbay, to find the Doctor scanning him. Seven, in her blue biosuit, stared down at him serenely. He couldn't remember what had happened, and assumed it had been another away mission gone awry. He'd probably crashed another shuttle. Damn it. He tried to sit up, and was immediately held back by Seven and the Doctor.

"Don't try to move just yet Commander," the Doctor said. "You've got a lot of internal injuries we're still treating."

"What happened?"

"Voyager was attacked," Seven said. "The story is…complicated."

"Doctor," Kes came up with a tray of medical tools. "Sorry it took me so long. Ensign Wildman was having labor pains…"

"Is she all right?" Seven asked Kes.

"Oh she's fine now," The Ocompan replied.

Chakotay watched his friends chit-chat, with the feeling that something was off. He obeyed the Doctor's orders not to try moving. The Doctor was still scanning him. Chakotay looked around sickbay, trying to pinpoint what was wrong. All right, what would normally be here, in sickbay? Beds for patients….His was the only bed in sickbay. Sickbay looked awfully small. And more dimly lit than usual. What about people? Kes and the Doctor were right. Seven loved him, so of course she'd be there. …Wasn't Tom usually in sickbay, helping with the Doctor? Yes, ever since Kes left…Should Kes be here? Maybe Kes just hadn't left the ship yet. How long had Voyager been lost now? Was Seven supposed to be aboard yet, while Kes' haircut was still that short?

He turned his eyes to the panel next to the biobed, and in its screen, he saw Earth's moon.

_Of course._

Earth's moon was the symbol he'd trained his mind to use, to remind him when he was dreaming. He pushed himself up on the biobed, forcefully. When he didn't find himself sitting up in his bed at home (or wherever else he might have fallen asleep), he tried tapping the back of his hand. Nothing. Either his techniques for lucid dreaming were losing their strength, or this wasn't an ordinary dream.

Seven, the Doctor, and Kes were standing a ways away, carrying on a heavy discussion involving a lot of "technobabble," as many often referred to Starfleet jargon. He heard words he recognized, like "tachyons" and "warp cells," but nothing they were saying was making sense. They were just stringing words and phrases together, while nodding and dipping their voices in the guise of conversation. He didn't bother trying to understand it, because it was just background noise that his brain had cooked up for his dream. Or whoever controlling this dream had cooked up.

He rolled off the bed and hurried out of sickbay. Kes and the Doctor took no notice, but Seven watched him, as if she knew more than she was letting on. Several seconds after stepping out of sickbay he realized he should have confronted her. But when he turned to go back, he found sickbay was gone, and he was standing in a random corridor. He continued forward, in what proved to be a gigantic maze. A gigantic _empty_ maze.

With no progress ahead, and nothing to distract him, Chakotay began trying to remember what he'd been doing before he'd fallen asleep, or passed out. He ran through some Vulcan techniques Tuvok had taught him, during their private sessions following his brush with Chaotic Space. After experiencing insanity for a brief time, Chakotay had been distraught to say the least. Tuvok had noticed, and offered to take him through some Vulcan mental therapy. The next time Chakotay's mind was invaded by aliens—about a year afterwards, when his away team was given PTSD from that alien "memorial"—Chakotay had been the most controlled person in the group. No one but Kathryn and now Seven knew that one of the biggest reasons Chakotay and Tuvok had put their differences aside and grown to respect each other so much was because Chakotay owed Tuvok his sanity.

_Start at the begging. _

_I'm from Dorvan V. I went to Starfleet Academy. I fought in the Maquis. Served aboard Voyager. Taught at the Academy. Taught at the Academy…_ When you couldn't remember the basics, you tried focusing on the details. He ran through the more memorable students. _T'Nira, Mai Xiong, Thyk, Skokie… T'Nira! Mai, Thyk, Skokie, Lupita…! _He'd ordered them to run back to the shuttle, while he drew his phaser to hold off the two Hirogen that had ambushed them. The planet they'd been investigating was reportedly a "safe" distance from that wormhole, but apparently the Hirogen had spread farther out into the Alpha Quadrant by now. He'd run through the forest, fighting and hiding, hoping to lose the Hirogen long enough to wait for help to arrive. He'd phasered one of them, sending him off a cliff, unintentionally killing him. The other had dropped down suddenly from a tree, and—

Chakotay grabbed his stomach with one hand and slammed against Voyager's wall. _Jesus Christ._ He looked down, and saw his uniform was perfectly intact. He yanked up his shirt, and found his flesh was too. The injury hadn't followed him into his dream, at least. He didn't feel any pain. Either he'd been cured, or someone had given him painkillers, or he was just in too deep a sleep to feel anything. He considered for a moment that he might already be dead, and this was some kind of waiting room for the "Happy Hunting Grounds," but dismissed it. He'd lucid dreamed a million times, and once he knew he was dreaming, the feeling was as familiar as stepping into a close friend or family member's home.

8472. Species 8472 had been there. It had covered his wound and picked him up. It had tried talking to him telepathically, and failed. Maybe this was a new method it had found.

"I'm listening!" Chakotay shouted, smoothing his shirt back down. "You there? You want to talk to me, right? Come on, where are you?"

He waited impatiently for a few moments, then took off down the corridor again. He finally found the turbo lift, and stepped inside. A woman was waiting for him, wearing a red Starfleet uniform, in the same style as his Voyager one. Brunette curls fell around her shoulders. Her face was far from the typical idea of "beauty," but her piercing, ice-blue eyes distracted him from the less fortunate features. He recognized her. He'd met her, and only seen her, in this false human form. She was a member of Species 8472, aliens from another universe-Fluidic Space.

"Valerie Archer," he said.

"Chakotay." Valerie smiled. "I'm sorry it took so long to respond. But you see, I didn't bring you here to talk. I brought you here to treat your injuries."

The turbo lift was moving already, despite not being given any commands.

"You're operating on me, and I'm sedated?"

"Something like that."

"So where am I right now? In the real world? Am I aboard one of your ships?"

"Yes."

She was staring ahead, stone faced.

He'd only once glimpsed the inside of one of Species 8472's organic ships. The anthropologist in him was burning with curiosity. The rest of him was terrified of exactly what was being done to him while he dreamed, and what he'd see if he woke up. Was he lying on their version of an operating table? Wrapped in a giant chrysalis? An image flashed through his mind from one of Tom Paris's 20th century B-Movies, alien clowns wrapping human prisoners in cocoons of cotton candy. Then another, more serious one Tom had showed everyone—one Chakotay enjoyed—_The Matrix_. Maybe he was in some artificial womb, like Neo.

"Both." Valerie said suddenly.

"Pardon?"

"It would look to you like a combination of a caterpillar's cocoon and your mother's womb. It's giving you oxygen. If you were exposed to our air you'd die, heinously."

"I see," Chakotay said calmly, his eyes darting. After an awkward silence he added, "Moths have cocoons. Caterpillars have chrysalises."

Valerie looked at him, unimpressed.

Chakotay realized that the turbolift was moving downward. This could be because he was feeling "down," and his dream was making the feeling literal. Or, it could be because his body was actually moving.

"Our ship's moving downward." Valerie answered without even looking at him.

"You have gravity in Fluidic Space?"

"I never said we were in Fluidic Space. But we are. And we have planets, for lack of a better word, similar to those in your universe."

So many questions were flying through Chakotay's mind, and it was impossible to decide which was the most important.

"So are you inducing this entire dream? Or have you just found a way to enter my mind?"

"Bit of both. We…" she pursued her lips, pondering how to word it. "Forgive me, I'm trying to heel your body and speak to you at the same time. We…pushed your mind in certain directions, and you filled it in with your own memories. I decided now would be a good time to say hello, seeing as I can't talk to you while you're awake, without reentering that uncomfortable human form."

Chakotay was suddenly reminded that, somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, there was a real woman named Valerie Archer (now retired) who he'd never met. Who possibly had no idea that she had ever been impersonated by aliens from another dimension, or that a man she'd never met had kissed said alien while it wore her body. The thought disturbed him. He glanced back at "Valerie," knowing she could probably sense his discomfort right now. She looked like she had no idea why he was so bothered by any of it.

"After I'm healed," Chakotay asked, unable to keep the fear from creeping into his voice, "What will you do with me? Why did you even save me? How did you find me? What do you want?"

As he was rambling off the questions, she was slowly turning to face him, with a half-smile that gave him the creeps. She hooked one bony arm around his neck, and moved inward for a kiss. His hands flew up, stopping her in her tracks. Her ice-blue eyes froze on his. He tried and failed to keep from thinking about whether the alien had its arm around his neck in the waking world.

"If you can read my thoughts, then you know I'm taken."

Valerie continued to stare at him. Then she began to chuckle. She pulled her arm away, and shook her head, laughing. "You think I want to be your _girlfriend_, like Seven? Kisses, copulation, hugs, you think that's what we're after?"

Chakotay swallowed. "'We?'"

"Non-telepaths, your attempts at getting close are pathetic. Limited to physical stimulation and emotional suggestion. When we form bonds _here_, we form _real_ bonds. Our minds flow together, and stay together."

"Like the Borg." Even in this dream, he felt his body going numb.

"No. We still maintain our individuality. And we create new life forms with these mental bonds, instead of just assimilating previously existing ones."

"But you're talking about 'assimilating' me!" he was moving away from her, backing against the wall.

Her pale eyes narrowed. "What is _it_ with your kind? _All _of you? My leader's having the same problems with _his_ humanoid. She's so closed-minded she won't even—"

"There are other humanoids here?!"

Valerie froze, apparently realizing she'd said too much.

"Wake me up! I want to talk to them! _Now!_" he barked.

"Your body hasn't fully healed."

After pondering this, he demanded, "Are my guts back inside me?"

"Yes—"

"Am I sealed up?"

"Yes but—"

"Good enough! If I can't handle the pain I'm sure I'll just pass out again and we can pick up right where we left off!"

"I'm not waking you up."

"Fine. I'll find my own way out then."

Valerie laughed again. "I have you sedated, darling."

"Sedated…" he eyed the turbolift door, victoriously. "Thanks!"

Her choice of words had given it away. Sedatives, sedation, revolved around relaxation, turning emotions and energy levels down. Probably the real reason the turbolift had been moving downward, this whole time. If he wanted to fight her "sedation" techniques (whatever they were), he should probably do something to stimulate his mind.

"Computer, halt turbolift!" he tried, but nothing happened.

He had no phaser to try blasting the doors opened. So he began punching the controls. The turbolift didn't change, but his hand did. Bruises started to form, he felt pain in his hand, and his knuckles began to bleed. _Your mind makes it real. _If he could hurt himself enough, that might wake him up.

Something in his subconscious must have changed, then, because the doors started to creek opened. He stuck his arm through, gripping the other side of the doors, trying to pull himself through. Valerie, of course, seized his other arm with both hands, and tried tugging him back. He didn't kick or punch at her. Instead, to her surprise, he yanked Valerie forward with the arm she was gripping, knocking her head into the turbolift doors.

While she was momentarily stunned, he pulled through, and stumbled out into the jungle of the planet he'd grown up on. He tore through the trees, not looking back. He feared just looking back would somehow _take _him back.

He skidded to a halt when a tree in front of him was blasted by a laser shot. He looked up at the night sky, saw a Borg sphere floating up there like a moon, and froze. But there, next to the cube, was a real moon—Earth's moon. (Which didn't belong on his home world, of course.) His mind was reminding him that this was only a dream. The Borg—one of his worst fears—was Valerie's pathetic attempt to threaten and frighten him into turning back. Biting his lip, he continued sprinting through the rainforest.

Symbols, it was all symbols. He'd known for years how to interpret and work with them, and Tuvok had taught him even more tricks. How to train his mind to keep not only warnings like the moon, but safes for private information, doorways for escaping certain emotions or memories…It was a battle of wits with this bitch, just like with Seska.

Where the hell was he going to find a doorway in the middle of the jungle? Any opening he'd possibly find—a cave, a house, a temple, a starship—would just lead him farther inside something. He was already as "in the opened" as he could be. In other words, he was already free of Valerie's grasp. He just had to give himself a final jolt to wake up. Biting and gnawing his hand didn't do much. He stopped running, and searched the dark jungle for a snake, a jaguar, or some vicious animal to provoke. Insects and birds hissed and chattered peacefully. Water rushed nearby. It was so familiar, like he'd heard it just yesterday. He'd fallen asleep to the sounds of this forest all growing up. It was tempting to just sit down, and close his eyes…

He viciously punched a tree, to keep himself "awake."

_The rushing water. _

He decided to use the rushing water to his advantage.

He brought up memories of hikes he'd gone on with his father, walking along riverbanks until they found a waterfall. A tall, tall waterfall, with jagged rocks at the bottom. The lucid dreaming trick worked. Walking through the forest, he soon heard the rush of the water grow into a roar, and felt the mist tickle his face. He ran towards it, shoving branches and leaves out of his way. The scratches he was getting did well for the stimulation. He heard Valerie screaming his name hoarsely, somewhere in the distance. She was losing the battle.

As soon as he found the waterfall he picked up the pace, his adrenaline surging. He splashed through the shallow rapids, feeling his uniform getting wet, took a good look over the edge, and jumped.

Chakotay had been smashed in the head enough times in real life (with boxing gloves, blunt weapons, and flying chunks of metal) for his mind to know how to improvise being smashed against enormous rocks.

* * *

He was underwater. Thick, mucky, gold-colored water. He could just barely make out the shape of his hand in front of his face. It was like trying to move in mud. He withered around until he felt the edge of his prison. It felt organic, lumpy, and…stringy?

There was something extremely important he was supposed to remember now. Something he had to be aware of, for his own safety. It was on the tip of his mind. He couldn't. He was seized by panic, and could think of nothing but his urge to get out. He tore at the slippery walls frantically, scratching it with his fingernails, and felt the cocoon tremble. Then, suddenly, he fell.

The ground he landed on was bouncy, and felt much like those prison walls. He wiped alien fluid away from his eyes, and blinked them opened. He was on the floor of the organic ship. The cocoon—pod—whatever—was above him, jetting out from the wall, opened up like some kind of grotesque giant flower. He looked down at his own, heaving body. He was naked, covered in that gold goo, lying in a huge puddle of it in fact. He looked back up at the pod, and saw it closing like a tulip. It was moving back towards the wall, morphing back _into_ the wall, until it was gone.

Still gasping for breath, he suddenly remembered that all-important bit of information: _he couldn't breathe aboard this ship. _And yet, he was breathing now. Before he could start pondering why, a human hand suddenly touched his arm. He looked over sharply.

Correction, a _Romulan_ hand.

A Romulan woman with white-blond hair was staring down at him, with almost reptilian gold eyes. "Who are you?" she demanded, in a soft but commanding voice. "What's your species?"

"Ch-Chakotay. Human." He stayed on his back for the moment, panting.

"Captain Sela," the woman said finally. "Romulan. Well, half Romulan, half human, actually. Long story."

Still panting, he managed, "You're a prisoner too?"

Sela nodded. "One of these bastards infiltrated my ship disguised as a Romulan soldier. He sucked up to me for a year and a half, acting like my friend. Then when he'd earned my trust, he just came right out and told me the truth—what he was, where he was from. He gave me an offer I _had_ to refuse. But he wouldn't take no for an answer. So he phasered me, and I woke up here…"

Her voice trailed off as she glanced at his abdomen, and her yellow eyes flared slightly. He looked down, not seeing it at first. He was still covered in that putrid slime. She pulled her hand into her sleeve and wiped some of it off. A tendril, like the ones that had covered Harry Kim when 8472 had attacked him, ran across Chakotay's belly. Curiously running his fingers along it, it felt like a very bizarre, giant scab.

"Stitches," he muttered. Looking up the confused Romulan, he explained, "I was…injured. In a fight with a Hirogen. He cut me opened. The—_these_—aliens, one of them told me they were healing me."

Sela stared at the "stitches" as if Chakotay's explanation had disturbed her even more. She began pressing his abdomen and chest in different places, like a doctor. Under less stressful circumstances he might make some joke about the fact that she was female and he was naked, but the look on her face made humor impossible.

"What are you looking for?"

"No idea." She gave up, and sat back. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't put anything _else_ inside your body before sealing you up. I already know they want to 'bond' with our minds. Who knows what other ideas these sick bastards have of getting close to someone."

Chakotay thought of another one of Tom's old sci-fi movies. (Why in god's name had he, Seven and Kathryn let Tom and B'Elanna talk them into watching _Alien_?)

Sela looked up at the wall for a moment. "Were you in that, that pod-thing, for a while?"

"I guess," he pushed himself up with his elbows. "I was unconscious until it dropped me onto the floor. The alien was talking to me in my dreams," he frowned. "How long have you been in this room?"

"I'd guess a few days. But I don't have a way to measure time." She saw his confusion, and added, "You just arrived. I was sitting here, alone, and all of a sudden that," she waved a finger at the wall, "_thing_ popped out of the wall and deposited you on the floor in front of me."

"Probably because this room is the only place besides that pod with oxygen."

Chakotay found the strength to move up into a sitting position, leaning against the squishy wall. He pulled his legs up in front of him, for modesty. He didn't need to huddle for cold; it was warm and humid here. Sela looked back at a pile of provisions she'd either brought, or been given, that sat in a far corner. She retrieved two blankets, and handed them both to Chakotay.

"Thank you,"

She averted her gold eyes, as he dried himself off.

After wiping off his face and moving on to his hair, he asked her, "You said one of them told you where he was from?"

"Yes." She dropped into a sitting position against the wall, resting her wrists on her knees. Looking ahead, she sighed, "How much do you know about this species?"

"A bit…" Chakotay summed up Voyager's encounters with Species 8472 as best he could.

"You're from the Voyager? That ship that was lost in the Delta Quadrant? That crippled the Borg?"

Chakotay nodded (still drying himself). "And who cleared that wormhole for all these damned aliens to get through."

Sela gave a one-shoulder shrug. "I'll take the Hirogen or those fungus-headed buffoons over the Borg." She shook her head, looking up, almost hopelessly. "I'd probably even take _this_."

Chakotay had to admit, at least 8472 wasn't quite as forceful with their assimilation methods as the Borg had been.

"Well I've told you all I know," he set the slimy blanket down, and stood to wrap himself up in the relatively dry one. "Have you learned anything that we can add to my story?"

Sela was nodding. "Oh yes. After what you told me, it's all making sense to me now. Saluk, the one who disguised aboard my ship, told me he was an outcast. He was from a group of aliens that wanted to form alliances in our universe, and they were all exiled from their society for it."

Chakotay froze, holding the blanket around his waist. "Are the others planning to attack our universe?"

"No. Or at least, Saluk said they weren't. The way I figured it, from what he told me, most of them see us humanoids as violent, primitive animals, who need to be watched carefully. His small group on the other hand wants more contact with us. The majority saw this as a perversion, and his group was excommunicated."

Chakotay finished tying the blanket on, making sure it covered his "stitches."

"Contact…" he said. "Valerie wants to _mate_ with me, Sela."

The way Sela nodded, with one blond eyebrow arched, told him that Saluk had wanted the same thing from her. And that she was just as revolted by the idea as Chakotay was.

"We're animals to them," Sela wrinkled her nose, "And yet they want to… to 'bond' with us."

"No wonder they were thrown out." Chakotay sat back down. "Among their own kind, they're wanting something akin to bestiality.'"

Chakotay suddenly felt anger boil up inside him. Valerie Archer (well, the alien impersonating Archer) was probably as far above him in intelligence as a human was above a dog, or an adult over a toddler. And yet she wanted to _mate _with him. Her flirting and kissing was innocent enough; from her perspective, that was just dumbing herself down to his level, maybe no worse than playing tag with a six-year-old, or petting your cat while it licked your hand. But trying to pressure him into what for her race was a mating bond, knowing full well that he couldn't understand the implications or handle the consequences, _that_ crossed clean over the line. He wondered if the aliens who'd banished her and her friends had done it purely because they hated humanoids, or partially out of protectiveness for them. If the latter, then there was something he admired about that species.

"This happened to my mother," Sela suddenly whispered.

Chakotay looked at her. "Your mother was here…?"

"No." Sela said quickly. "I mean, something _like_ this happened…my mother was human, captured by Romulans. My father allowed her and her shipmates to live, if she agreed to be his consort. I," her face looked bitter, but her voice was cracking. "I hated her, for so long. Because she didn't love my father, and tried to take me away from my home," Sela sighed through her teeth. "I always hated being half human."

Chakotay studied her face. "Do you?" his eyes flicked to her hair. "I've never seen a Romulan with blond hair. Why didn't you have the color changed, if you want to be Romulan so badly?"

He'd once asked B'Elanna a similar question about her Klingon forehead ridges. _If you want to look human so badly, why don't you just have some cosmetic surgery done to get rid of those ridges? _He wasn't surprised when Sela gave him the same silence B'Elanna had. He suspected the answer was the same in both women.

"Because," Sela swallowed, "It's from my mother."

* * *

**A/N: Funny bit of trivia: just as I finished typing the sentence about Chakotay's mind knowing how to make him feel like he was smashing his head into a big rock, one of my neighbors in this apartment complex made a loud, THUNK noise. (Someone keeps doing that now and then. I have NO idea what they're doing in there.) **

**Again, apologies of Sela is out of character. She's one of my favorite TNG characters, but it's been years since I've watched a lot of TNG. And for some reason, I cannot find any videos on the internet which feature her. **


	3. Meld

**A/N: "Star Trek" not mine and such.**

* * *

The Perfidia was a small, stingray-shaped vessel, roughly the size of four Delta Flyers. Seven recognized its design as Cardassian, and could tell that the ship's original name had been scraped away, with the new one apparently hand-painted on in its place. She didn't ask Frenchy or Nass how they'd acquired the ship, figuring that if she knew, it would only complicate their working relationship.

Nass hadn't been exaggerating when she'd boasted herself the best pilot they could have. Already, the Orion had taken them through the rocky rings of a gas giant, weaving around the boulders at an alarming speed, until the Hirogen ships pursuing them had either crashed, been shot down by Ro and Frenchy, or retreated. Tom Paris was the only pilot Seven could think of who might give her a run for her money.

"Seven!" David Skokie rushed into the cockpit. "Update from Starfleet: You were right. Those particles in the spot where Chakotay vanished were definitely from Species 8472. But here's the thing; particles exactly the same as those were found a few lightyears away. As in, they were from the same individual alien." The young Jew looked at the viewscreen dubiously. "If you're gonna open a rift to Fluidic Space—which you still haven't mentioned how you're gonna do—I don't think we wanna do it on that planet where we had our aborted field trip. The aliens didn't just take off from there. They went back to their ship, and then moved to some other part of space, before going back to their own dimension."

"Why?" Thyk looked up from his consol, his blue antenna arching curiously. "What does it matter, what position they switch universes from?"

"Perhaps there are sections of their own universe that they wish to avoid," Seven replied.

"So what," the Andorian was still lost. "They can't just open the rift to a safer part?"

"No, Thyk," Skokie began moving his hands about, as he often did when explaining something confusing. "The, the universes, they match up. Like, uh, imagine I wanna cut a hole in this wall to go to the next room, but I wanna avoid the table that I know's over there,"

Thyk's antenna moved, and he nodded, apparently understanding.

"Very well." Seven said. "Where did Species 8472 vanish off to, then?"

Skokie handed her his PADD. Seven showed it to Nass, so the pilot could see where to take them.

Without looking up at anyone, Frenchy asked flatly, "Is Starfleet going into Fluidic Space?"

"Not yet." Skokie said. "Admiral Janeway's preparing her fleet, but they're still waiting for the okay from Starfleet. If we go in now we'll be on our own."

When Frenchy didn't react, it became clear to everyone that she hadn't been asking out of a concern for facing the aliens alone. Her concern was facing Starfleet. Fantine Christophe had many crimes to answer for. And unlike Chakotay, she hadn't earned herself a pardon by spending seven years in the Delta Quadrant helping to save countless lives repeatedly and proving herself as a Starfleet officer. Seven was tempted to ask Fantine how it made sense to fear Federation law, but not Species 8472. But Skokie got there first.

"How can you be relieved to know that you're more likely to get eaten alive by aliens from another dimension than sent to jail?" the boy exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.

The Frenchwoman threw him a sarcastic, wearied look. "I've been facing death on a regular basis since I was little older than you, Mr. Skokie. I've become used to it. It's losing my freedom that I fear."

"I can tell you a hundred stories I've read about people losing their freedom to aliens. Physical, mental, and everything in between—"

"This argument is terminated!" Seven yelled suddenly.

Ro gave Skokie and Frenchy a look, silently scolding them for implying what 8472 might be doing to Seven's fiancé.

Nass spun in the helm chair to face Seven. "So _where_ am I taking us?"

"The coordinates I showed you." Seven was breathing heavily, trying to calm herself.

"Ensign," Skokie said, "If we go in now, we could _completely_ sabotage whatever plan Starfleet's got in mind."

"Or provide them with a useful distraction." Seven said. "If you'll forgive me now, I need to find Quark and have a word with him."

As she turned to leave the cockpit, Skokie asked, almost exasperatedly, "Shouldn't we at least ask Starfleet's permission before we just go charging in?"

"Starfleet said nothing to me about having to ask their permission for anything. If you're frightened about your academic record being tarnished, Lt. Ro and I have agreed to take full responsibility for anything Starfleet might view as misconduct."

Skokie held his nervous expression until she'd left the cockpit. Then he let it drop. He turned back around and coolly folded his arms. Ro, Nass, Frenchy, and Thyk eventually noticed, and all glanced back at him. He stared at them, with an expression that said, _the jig's up._ Thyk was the only one who seemed honestly confused by it. The rest looked like they'd been caught with their hands in a cookie jar.

Finally, Frenchy replied in a sing-song voice, playing up her French accent to the "Nth" degree, "Is zere any_zing_ that I can _do_ for you?"

"Ensign Hansen's not paying you two with money, is she."

Ro's normally half-closed eyes widened, and she looked over at Frenchy and Nass. Apparently Ro _didn't _know everything Seven did. For the benefit of Lt. Ro and his friend Thyk, Skokie decided to say what he thought he knew.

"Ensign Hanson didn't tell us how she plans to open a rift into Fluidic Space, but she has some way that she's keeping mum about. She's got the most devious Ferangi in the galaxy on this mission helping her. And she's offering two wanted crooks something valuable enough to get them to risk whatever's on the other side of the special rift she's gonna open. I think Quark helped her get it, and when she's done using it for this mission, she's gonna give it—or at least some part of it—to you two, for your ship."

Nass threw a rolling-eyed glance at Frency, a look that said _I told you we'd get caught_.

Frenchy drummed her fingers on her consol. "And what is that, Mr. Skokie?"

"Well how did Seven of Nine open a rift to Fluidic Space when she was on Voyager?" Skokie looked around. "C'mon, I'm not the only one here who's read up on the Voyager journey, am I?"

"Seven of Nine was still a member of the Borg Collective when she did that," Thyk said, slowly.

"Borg technology." Ro finished. "She's got some chunk of Borg technology she's gonna use, to open up a rift. That part I knew. I also figured Quark would be the one to get it for her. But she never said _anything_ about giving any of it to _you_ two pirates."

"Oh please, she isn't giving us weapons." Nass returned her focus to the helm. "Just some tools that'll improve our systems."

"Including your weapons systems." Ro said flatly.

"For whatever it's worth," Nass continued, "French and I _have_ licenses on a few planets to serve in their militaries for payment, and arrest their wanted criminals."

"But not by Starfleet." Skokie said. "Lt. Ro, I don't have an opinion here if you don't. I just like to keep up with what's actually going on here."

Ro rested her chin on the back of her hand, thinking it over. "I don't work for Starfleet. I work for Bajor. And as far as I know, Bajor doesn't care whether Ensign Hanson pays these two with Borg technology."

Skokie nodded and shrugged. "Fine. That's fine. It's not _my_ record, and it's gonna save Professor Chuck, so I'm, I'm…"

Ro was staring at Skokie as if he'd just uttered a curse word. "Did you just say 'Professor Chuck'?"

Skokie stuttered silently, and looked to Thyk for help.

The Andorian's antenna perked up. "Professor Chakotay dislikes formalities. He encourages us to call him Chakotay, Professor Chuck, or Professor C."

Ro nodded slowly, as if she hadn't expected that from Chakotay. Skokie didn't know how well she knew Chakotay, now that he thought of it.

"So what about you?" Frenchy looked over her shoulder at Skokie.

"I just said, I'm fine with it—"

"No I mean, why are you risking your life to save Professor Chakotay?"

Skokie realized this was a damned good question. "Cuz…cuz I can. Shit, a deadly adventure chasing aliens, that's why I joined Starfleet in the first place." He scratched the back of his neck. "And the…I don't know. The teachers at the academy are…different from the ones I've had in the past. Like, I can stand to be in the room with them for more than ten minutes." He shrugged. "I like them. Like, I mean, not just the way you have some teacher in grade school you like. I mean, if I ran into Professor Chuck or a lot of my other teachers from the Academy on the street, I'd actually _talk_ to them."

He was surprised when no one, not even Ro, scolded him for distaining his grade school teachers. Of course Frenchy and Nass were rule-breakers, and Thyk was a weirdo. But Lt. Ro, he'd thought, would be calling him an ungrateful brat, like most adults did when he spoke his mind. Instead, she was nodding with understanding, as if she'd been where he was.

Tired of having all eyes on him, Skokie tried to shift attention elsewhere. "Hey Thyk, you should tell them about that mind-quest thing Chakotay took you on."

"I'm not supposed to speak about my vision quest to anyone."

"Right, right." _Crap. _

Now Thyk was doing that stare again, where he just sat there are stared at you with his big turquoise eyes. It wasn't creepy (at least not to Skokie), just awkward and kind of annoying. Thyk looked like he was watching a holodisplay, waiting for the advertisements to end and get back to the program.

"So," Ro folded her hands conversationally. "You're both out here to save your teacher. That's very—"

"That's not why I'm here." Thyk said, all too honestly. "I'm seeking contact with aliens."

Skokie muttered, "Whore."

The three women stared at Skokie, like they couldn't tell if he was joking or not. (He was.) Thyk knew Skokie's sense of humor, and after a moment, burst into a long fit of high-pitched giggles, which made Ro, Frenchy and Nass stare at _him. _

"Inside joke." Skokie shrugged. "Thyk has this thing for meeting alien species. That's why he's taking anthro. I don't know, it's weird."

"I'm dissatisfied living among other Andorians." Thyk said, now staring at no one in particular. "I was born with a mild but problematic disorder in my brain. And I don't fit into any of our four sexes. Interaction with others on my home planet hasn't worked well. _Please_ don't pity me, I have pity coming out of my antenna. I don't need sympathy I need excitement. Adoria is horribly dull. The galaxy is such a colorful, interesting place. Not just, blue, green, blue."

Skokie listened to rants like this all the time, and had already taken a seat at a consol, only half listening. Ro, Nass, and Frenchy stared at Thyk, dumbfounded.

Nass finally gave up trying to make sense of the Andorian, and spun back to her consol. "We're almost there." she tapped a Starfleet com badge on her chest (Seven had assigned one to each of them). "Nass to Seven, we'll be ready in about twenty minutes."

"Understood."

* * *

Chakotay and Sela spent several hours bouncing off ideas on how to escape, and how to make certain that neither of them was a member of Species 8472 in disguise, trying to earn the other's trust.

"There's a way for me to know," Sela rubbed her chin. "But if you _are_ a member of Species 8472, it might be exactly what you want. And if _I_ was a member of Species 8472, it could be a trick to let me into your mind."

"You're talking about a mind-meld." Chakotay said. "Romulans can do that?"

"A few can. Most of us aren't born with the telepathic powers Vulcans are, but we have dormant versions of them. Some of us have begun learning, especially after Starfleet formed an alliance with our Empire to fight the Remans. I have a few Vulcans serving under me on my ship, believe it or not. One of them took me through a few mind melds, and mediations…" her yellow eyes stared hard at Chakotay. "If Saluk knew who was important to me back home…"

She was in love with that Vulcan, Chakotay realized. The conflicted half-human, half-Romulan, and a Vulcan daring enough to serve among an entire ship of former enemies, it kind of gave Chakotay a warm and fuzzy feeling. But it also meant she'd be as nervous to share minds as he was.

"There's only one way to find out whether I'm Saluk or not." Chakotay reminded her. "Look, I'm as scared and suspicious as you are. But the sooner we get this out of the way the sooner we can get out of here. Plus, if we can link our minds, maybe we can fight back against whatever Valerie and Saluk have up their sleeves."

It was uncomfortable for both of them—mind-melding with someone they'd known only for a few hours; the fact that they were the opposite sex, Chakotay was wearing nothing but a towel, and both had significant others they didn't want to dishonor. They sat across from each other, and Sela put her fingertips on his head.

"Sela," Chakotay said, just as she was starting to close her eyes.

He gold eyes flared back opened.

"How will either of us know, if the other is an alien who's fooling us? They can impersonate humanoids in physical form. Maybe they can also falsify memories and thought patterns. You might make me feel like I'm melding with a Romulan/Human hybrid named Sela, but…"

"_I'll_ know, because I've melded with these freaks of nature before." Sela said coolly. "I didn't tell you the whole story about how Saluk revealed himself to me." Still with her hands on his head, Sela looked at him intently. "Saluk and I were on an away mission together, alone. He claimed to have some mental illness that came up all of a sudden, and needed a mind-meld. I agreed, thinking I was helping a young colleague. I thought I was his mentor. He was the young rookie of the ship."

_Like Harry was on Voyage_r, Chakotay thought.

"I knew Saluk was attracted to me, but I dismissed it as adolescent hormones. It was only when we had that mind-meld that I discovered he was no adolescent, and that his feelings were something far stronger than a schoolboy crush." Her eyelids fluttered. "I'm getting off-topic. The point is, I knew the minute I melded with him that he wasn't a humanoid. When you mind-meld, there's a feeling of unlocking something. Even among most telepaths, the mind is something personal, that isn't just thrown out there for all to see, like our voice inflictions or our facial expressions. With Saluk it was the opposite; it felt like breaking down a flimsy wall he'd put up, and letting something that was normally out in the open break free again. These aliens don't hide anything with their thoughts. Their only way of communicating with each other, in their alien form anyway, is telepathy."

Chakotay's black eyes rolled upward, as he thought it over. "Maybe that's why they want us so badly. Our minds are locked away, secretive to them. Forbidden fruit."

Sela's blonde eyebrows rose momentarily, as she considered this. Then she gave her arms a little shake, moving back into position for the mind-meld. Chakotay closed his eyes, and relaxed his mind the way Tuvok had taught him.

"But what about me?" Chakotay asked suddenly, his eyes still shut.

"What do you mean."

"How do I know you didn't just make that all up just now?"

"You don't. You're just going to have to trust me."

Reluctantly, Chakotay let it drop.

"What is that?" Sela asked quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Over your eye. Is it a picture of something, or writing, or a map, or what?"

Chakotay bit his lip in silent laughter, at the "map" suggestion. "It's a bit of the first two…you'll find out when you get into my mind."

"Right, right." Sela lowered her voice, and began. "My mind to your mind…"

* * *

**A/N: **

**I did not make that up, about Starfleet making peace with the Romulans. That was what happened at the end of the movie "Nemisis." (Don't accuse me of "spoilers," that movie's like 10 years old by now.) **

**I got the name Perfidia from a beautiful Spanish tune, that's used in a few old movies from the '30s and '40s (like "Casablanca" and "The Mask of Dimitrios"). I recommend looking it up on You Tube. The 1940 instrumental version is so gorgeous it's brought me close to tears. **

**I came up with the character of David Skokie because of "Star Trek's" long tradition of diversity and stereotypes. We've met a jolly Irishman (O'Brien), a classy Indian/Brit (Bashier), a nerdy Asian (Harry Kim), and a buff quiet Native American stud muffin (Chakotay). But…no Jewish stereotypes? I feel left out. All they had to do was call up Jeff Goldblum, and ask him to basically reprise his roles from "Independence Day" and "Jurassic Park" and…well every other role he's done…but do it while wearing a Starfleet uniform. Skokie is a town near Chicago, IL, known for its heavy Jewish population. The name itself is from a Native American language, but I thought it would sound so cool as the name of a space-Jew. **

**This story will hopefully be finished in one or two more chapters. **


	4. Party Crashers

**A/N: A mind-meld aboard a hostile alien ship? What could possibly go wrong? **

**I don't own "Star Trek." If I did, the recurring characters would have been the regulars on "Next Gen," instead of the regulars. And "Voyager" would have had more crossovers with DS9.**

* * *

Mind-melds weren't like dreams or vision quests. It was like that feeling when one was just starting to fall asleep, with the sounds and visions of dreams just starting to flash by for seconds at a time, more vividly than a daydream, but not quite as intense as a real dream. When Chakotay received Sela's memories and emotions, it was like being suddenly reminded of something he'd known all along and just forgotten about; that was how it felt, when someone else's mind came flooding into yours. So he wasn't surprised when he learned the bizarre circumstances under which Sela had been born, or that her mother had been Tasha Yar, the original security chief of Starfleet's flagship the Enterprise.

Sela pulled up every memory Chakotay had related to Species 8472, as well as all of the battles and deadly situations he'd been through. And she sent her own back to him. Any knowledge that could possibly help them get out of Fluidic Space alive, and with their individuality intact.

Some time into the meld, a fresh set of thoughts entered. Memories of floating in some warm ocean. These weren't Sela's thoughts, and they weren't Chakotay's.

"Wha…" Chakotay muttered, his eyes still shut.

Sela kept the meld going. "Someone's knocking on the door of our minds, it seems. We're not alone here."

"Species 8472?"

"No. I think it's another prisoner...it's not a humanoid…"

It was a creature similar to a jellyfish or a squid. Its home was the boiling ocean of a gas giant, somewhere far, far away from the Alpha Quadrant. It was a telepath. It had been lured by Species 8472, just as Sela and Chakotay had. It was currently floating in another cell on the organic ship, a sort of makeshift fish tank. It was the third and only other prisoner on this ship. There had been other individuals onboard from various species around the universe, but they'd all died trying to escape, or resisting their captors' attempts at mind-bonding. It didn't want to suffer the same fate, and it trusted Sela and Chakotay to help it escape.

"We should trust it." Chakotay said, after receiving these thoughts.

"I've never melded more than one person at once." Sela cautioned. "Nor with a non-humanoid."

"Three heads are better than two," Chakotay offered.

"Since you put it that way," Sela let down her mental defenses, and granted the alien mollusk leave to enter.

They had just received the tip of the iceberg of the jellyfish's memories (of which it had almost a thousand years worth), when an icy female voice cut through all three of their minds: "Dis-_gusting_."

Chakotay and Sela's eyes flew opened.

Or so they thought.

They were standing in the organic cell. But the cell looked different. Everything was tinted a dark blue. Chakotay was fully clothed again, wearing the Academy professor's uniform he'd been in when the Hirogen had attacked him. And in the middle of the cell sat…Chakotay and Sela. Chakotay still half nude, both still with their eyes shut, still in the mind-meld. An out of body experience. The large, purple squid was floating in the air nearby. The cell they were looking at was apparently some strange overlap of the oxygen-based one Sela and Chakotay were sitting in, and the "fish tank" their jellyfish friend was floating inside. All three of them looked around in bafflement (well, the jellyfish had no eyes, but it moved in a way that seemed to indicate confusion). Then their eyes all landed on two other figures in the room: Valerie Archer, and a pale young Romulan, who Chakotay recognized from Sela's thoughts as Saluk.

"You're hypocrites." Valerie said, wrinkling her nose. "You accuse _us_ of being wrong for wanting to share a permanent, monogamous bond with you, yet you'll have a mental _orgy _right here, as soon as our backs are turned!"

"Orgies have a policy of 'no strings attached.'" Sela replied without missing a beat. "You two were trying to force us into marriage. One's a bigger deal than the other."

"We want to enlighten you!" Valerie exclaimed. "You're immature beings! We can help you evolve!" she looked at Chakotay. "Like we did with Kes, after she left your ship."

Chakotay scoffed. "And that worked out wonderfully for her."

Sela's face grew unsettled, as she thought over what she'd learned from Chakotay's memories, about Kes and Species 8472. "You nearly drove that girl insane! She tried to destroy her old crew, after you were finished mucking around in her mind!"

"She was offered something greater than her physical form and short lifespan, and she rejected it in the end." Valerie was striding towards Chakotay, who was backing around the room, trying to avoid her. "Have you never thought that there might be more than," she pinched some of the skin on his arm. "Than this?"

"You sound like you're selling a religion." Chakotay stared at her defiantly. "I've already got one."

"Your primitive, polytheist superstition?" Valerie sneered.

Chakotay grinned, almost viciously. "_Yes_!" On the verge of hysterics, his voice was getting raspy. "That primitive, savage religion, which we've held on to for centuries, even when we were being tortured and killed for refusing to give it up. What the _hell _makes you think _I'm_ going to trash it now, just because you're trying to bribe and threaten me?"

Sela suddenly let out a small roar through her teeth. Chakotay turned, and saw that Saluk was holding her by the shoulders—but not for long. Sela threw him off her, sending him flying between Chakotay and Valerie. Sela's commanding composure had broken down. Her gold eyes were wide, and strands of blonde hair fell over her face.

"You idiots!" she shouted down at Saluk.

Chakotay looked back at his and Sela's bodies, still locked in the mind-meld. They'd collapsed, and now lay next to each other on their sides, Sela's fingertips still stuck to Chakotay's forehead. The half Romulan's sleeping face was tightened in frustration, and he saw her eyes moving rapidly under their lids. Their jellyfish friend floated overhead, and another similar to it bobbed through the air after it; no doubt another member of Species 8472, who'd disguised as its own kind, and were trying to lure it in like Sela and Chakotay's admirers were.

Sela pointed accusingly at Saluk. "This galaxy must be _chalk full_ of humanoids who'd love a chance to 'evolve,' as you call it. Have you ever thought of asking around, to see who's interested, instead of just kidnapping whoever strikes your fancy?"

Chakotay nodded, exhausted from the mental fighting, and found himself dishing out a wisecrack worthy of Tom Paris. "Find a dating agency. Hand out pamphlets door to door. Whatever works for—"

The bioship shook.

Chakotay felt it, as he lay against the floor, despite still "standing" a ways away from his body. It was a strange experience. The look on Sela's face and the way the jellyfish spun around in the air told him that they'd experienced the same thing.

Valerie, Saluk, and the false jellyfish were suddenly gone.

Chakotay tried to open his eyes—his real eyes—but failed. "Sela break of the meld…_Sela_!"

"I can't!" she cried.

They both turned to the jellyfish, hoping he had a way to help. The alien cooed like a frightened tribble, and pulled its tentacles up into its torso, like a turtle retreating into its shell.

Sela looked away, rolling her eyes. "Great! We're stuck here!"

Chakotay sprinted across the room, towards the wall. "If these bastards have our minds glued to theirs at the moment, then maybe we can…give ourselves a tour. After all, the ship must be mapped out in their minds in some way or another. We're all linked right now, consciously or otherwise."

"Why don't you teach psychology, instead of anthropology?" Sela asked half-sarcastically.

She reached up and grabbed one of the jellyfish's tentacles, and pulled it behind her like a balloon, ignoring its protesting trills. Chakotay led them through the wall, and into a maze of organic corridors.

At first it was like running through a giant heart, or some other organ. They moved upward, in what would have been a slippery slide to climb up if they'd been there in physical form. They ran up and turned a corner, and found themselves in a hall filled with crisscrossing webs of purple…tendrils? It looked like some organic version of cobwebs. Chakotay was reminded of images he'd seen, showing the neurons in the human brain. The "webs" even had feint lights zipping up and down them, like the illustrations of neurons did. Instinctively, he moved his hand to push a tendril aside to step in, but his hand went right through it, ghost like. He remembered that he, Sela, and their aquatic friend were only here in spirit.

They heard noises, not far off. The three quickened their pace. The jellyfish now flew free of Sela's grasp, and soared right over Chakotay's head, bobbing through the sticky forest like a dog sniffing out a trail. Sela and Chakotay sprinted through the purple webs (literally _through_ them), struggling to keep up.

As they neared the other side of the "room," they saw a chunk of a small Cardassian ship, sticking out through the wall, as if it had just crashed through. Chakotay couldn't fathom how a mere Cardassian vessel could penetrate the walls of Species 8472's.

"What's that?" Sela pointed, moving her finger in a gesture around the ship.

On the organic wall, around the spot where the Cardassian ship had crashed through, a splash of tiny silver webs jetted forth, still growing.

"Borg nanoprobes." Chakotay answered. "They fired at the ship with Borg Nanoprobes to weaken one spot, so they could crash through."

"I wonder how long the Cardassians have been harvesting Borg technology." Sela said.

A small door on one side of the brown craft slid opened. Well, partially opened; the doorway was half blocked by the lumpy, orange wall of the bioship. The person inside had to squeeze their way out. The person wore a white spacesuit, and held a phaser rifle, equip with a torch. Chakotay recognized the Bajoran face behind the glass shield—Ro Laren. He'd worked with her a few times in the Maquis, and met her several other times after she'd become friends with Seven on DS9.

"I don't see any of them here yet." Ro said. "They must know someone's crashed their party. Maybe they're just taking their sweet time getting here."

"Or waiting to ambush us." The voice was Seven's.

Chakotay's fiancé pushed herself through the doorway to join Ro, also armed. A third, shorter spacesuit followed. Inside was a Ferangi, who looked around the room is if he were standing in some great treasury that could either make him wealthy or kill him. The Ferangi hurried to Ro's side, and followed her around the room, practically joined at her hip.

A French accent cut through, as a fourth figure emerged. "_What_ an _entrance_!" After hopping down, the Frenchwoman offered a hand to help a fifth step out, an emerald-skinned Orion girl. "I thought it would take us at least two tries to penetrate this wall, but you did it in one Nass!"

"I had some extra speed, from the way that rift sucked us in." the Orion said modestly. "I was afraid we'd just cut clean through the ship like a bullet!"

Sela came up next to Chakotay and asked, "Are these pirates?"

"Not those two," Chakotay pointed at Ro and Seven. "At least they weren't last time I saw them. Who knows what Seven might've done to try and find me."

Two final shipmates exited the ship, also armed, one timidly hopping down, the other leaping out like jumping off a diving board. The latter had blue skin, two long antenna, and surveyed the room with unblinking turquoise eyes that Chakotay would know anywhere.

"Thyk?!" He looked at the other figure. "Skokie? What the hell…?"

"Students of yours?" Sela asked, the memory still sitting vaguely in her section of the one mind they all now shared.

Chakotay didn't even answer. Skokie and Thyk weren't just any students, they were two of his favorites.

He recalled his first one-on-one conference with Skokie, where he asked the boy if he knew the Native American origin of his last name, and if he had any Indian blood in him. Skokie didn't; his father's family had come to the village of Skokie, Illinois, in the 1940s with the name Lowenstein, and changed it in order to Americanize. After that he and Skokie could rarely go a day without exchanging some humorous banter about Jews and Indians. Chakotay liked having him in class discussions, because the kid loved to argue. And he wasn't half bad at it either.

Thyk, the misfit Andorian, asked a lot of left-field questions, some of which Chakotay worried might not be appropriate for the classroom. It got to the point where Thyk learned to save a lot of his queries for after class. He'd been taking Thyk through some private sessions with vision quests, to help the confused Andorian work out his lifelong identity crisis. They still weren't finished. Chakotay feared that Thyk had misinterpreted the symbols (as he often did), and was on this mission under some misguided belief that it was going to help him find himself, or something like that.

"I can't believe she'd do this." Chakotay glared at Seven.

"They look grown enough to make their own decisions, Chakotay," Sela said.

Chakotay just looked at her, not in agreement.

A hiss made all heads, physical and otherwise, turn.

One of Species 8472 was moving through the webs, stepping over and under the tendrils, towards the rescue team. Seven, Ro, Skokie, Thyk, and the others raised their weapons.

"These rifles are set to fire Borg nanoprobes." Seven warned. "We mean you no harm. We are here only for the humanoids you have aboard. Return them to us and we'll leave."

The aliens' body quivered, and its shape began to morph. Valerie took her human form, staring at them with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Well, you don't see that every day," Skokie commented.

The Ferangi replied, "You would if you'd been as dear rivals with Constable Odo as I used to—"

"Shut up!" Valerie ordered. "Let me guess," she moved over to Seven, practically sticking her nose against the glass helmet. "You're Seven of Nine, and you want Chakotay. All to yourself."

Seven's jaw clenched. "Correct."

Valerie shook her head and shrugged. "And you can have him! ...Just as soon as he stops being so childish, and allows me to help him."

"Help him how."

"I've made him an offer to bond, Seven. Mentally. It would be something like that kiss I shared with him back when we first met, but a hundred times more significant. He can still live in your universe and exchange saliva with you, but he'd also have something else with me that no Borg drone could ever—"

"_Chakotay _is a _free spirit_." Seven said firmly. "I doubt he'd want to 'bond' his mind to an alien advanced enough to look down on him as a pet. Least of all one with acute histrionic disorder and the facial structure of a chimpanzee."

"Go ahead, insult the face; it's not mine. It belongs to some human woman back on Earth."

Ro quickly moved around Valerie, and brought the phaser rifle up to her head. "_Where is he_?"

Valerie glanced slowly at Ro.

"Seven!" Chakotay shouted. "Laren! Skokie, Thyk! Can you hear me?!"

"They're not telepaths Chakotay," Sela sighed.

Thyk's antenna perked slightly however, and his eyes moved, as if he'd sensed something.

Valerie swung at Ro, knocking her into a tangle of webs. Seven and the rest all fired their weapons, but the alien dodged them, tearing off in its true form.

Seven hesitated a second, then yelled, "Someone help Laren!" and took off after the alien.

The Ferangi was already at Ro's side, pulling her up. Her face was covered in tendrils, like Harry's had been. The rest were following Seven, back down the way Chakotay, Sela and the jellyfish had come.

"We have to get back," Sela said.

And suddenly, they _were_.

They were back in that cell, watching their two unconscious bodies again. The jellyfish was nowhere in sight. And it was their cell, without that blue overlap of the squid's tank. Chakotay saw Sela standing nearby, and Saluk had hold of her arms again. He was trying to drag her towards her own body, trying to force her back into it, force her awake again. Chakotay realized the same thing was happening to him. Valerie—in human form—had one bony hand clasping his wrists behind his back, the other arm wrapped around his throat.

"Valerie…" Chakotay was so busy struggling, he couldn't think of what he wanted to say. "Please!"

An opening grew in the wall, and two of the aliens stepped inside, hissing over Chakotay and Sela's bodies. Saluk and Valerie, now here in body. Saluk reached over with one of his three legs, and yanked Sela's hands off Chakotay's head.

Chakotay burst awake on the floor. For half a second he thought (hoped) that he heard a wake-up alarm ringing, but it was Sela screaming. She was pressing the palm of her hand to her temple, still lying on her side. Chakotay's head hurt from having his mind ripped from Sela's (and their sea friend) so abruptly. Since Sela had been controlling the meld, it was probably worse for her. Saluk suddenly clamped his—its—long purple fingers around the base of Sela's skull. She looked like she had a massive spider clinging to her, its legs coming up under her chin and around her eyes. Chakotay couldn't see what it was doing to her, but her eyes suddenly popped wide opened, and she lay there, somehow paralyzed.

A hiss from above took Chakotay's attention away from Sela, and he found himself staring at his reflection in one of "Valerie's" eyes. She wasn't touching him yet. She looked like she was waiting for something. Chakotay didn't dare try to move.

A sound came from outside the cell. Hard footsteps against the soft floor of the bioship. Valerie's head turned. Chakotay noticed that she hadn't closed up the opening she and Saluk had formed to enter, and wondered what they were waiting for. The rescue team came into view—or at least a few of them—and Chakotay realized that Valerie had been waiting for _them_. As soon as Seven was in view, Valerie wrapped one arm around his bare torso, yanking him up against her so Seven could see, and then clamped the claws of her free hand around the back of his head. Something shot up from her hand or arm, and pierced the base of his skull.

* * *

**A/N: Apologies if this chapter was confusing. I was going for the acid-trip types of scenes "Star Trek" does now and then.**

**Mind-Melds: I have no idea what they're supposed to "feel" like. I just sort of made that up on the spot as I was writing. **


	5. Departure

**Chapter 5: Departure**

* * *

The pain made it impossible to move, or think. The exact feeling was indescribable; but it was something like having his entire mind, his personality, every bit of his essence, being sucked into some kind of black hole. Chakotay, being Chakotay, fought it with every bit of energy he had. This feeling, too ,was indescribable, but was something like having his mind stretched like a wad of chewing gum.

And then, with a sudden mental snap, it was over.

Chakotay fell to the floor, free of Valerie. His shaking hand went to the back of his head, and came back wet with blood. Valerie was stumbling backwards on her three legs, like a tarantula hit with insect repellant. One of her eyes had turned a milky white, and Borg nanoprobes were rippling out around the eye socket. Valerie had underestimated how fast of a shot Seven could be, probably thinking she'd simply dodge the blasts. Seven prepared her rifle for another shot, staring Valerie in the one good eye the monster had left. Valerie lunged back at the team, and was immediately pummeled with more shots of Borg nanoprobes. Both she and Saluk were soon covered with silver webs and welts.

Saluk held on firmly to Sela, continuing the forced bond, ignoring the shots that hit him. Chakotay scrambled to his feet and found himself lunging at Saluk. Saluk knocked him back with his free arm. Chakotay pushed himself up just in time to see the Orion girl draw a Klingon dagger from her space boot, run forward, and stab Saluk in head. Chakotay watched in amazement, as the green woman slashed at Saluk's face and stabbed his head in different spots, fueled by some mad surge of adrenaline, if not a drug. The dagger's cuts healed within seconds on the alien's purple hide, but she was distracting him. The French woman came to join her, moving around Saluk with her rifle trained on him, firing shots at different parts of his body repeatedly.

Sela's yellow eyes were still wide opened, but they were moving now, and her expression seemed more awake. Chakotay feared that the two women's efforts to break Saluk out of Sela's mind might hurt Sela, and held up a hand, trying to find the words to tell them to stop. Sela blinked tightly twice, apparently waking from whatever trace Saluk had her in. She rolled inward, bringing her knees in, and kicked up at his head, making him sink back with an insect-like yowl. She pulled herself free of his hand, and jumped to her feet.

"Give me a weapon!" Sela shouted hoarsely, holding out her hand. "Anything!"

Instead, the French woman grabbed Sela's hand. The Orion took the other.

"Come along Miss!" The French woman said, as they dragged Sela towards the doorway.

Chakotay shouted after them, "We can't breathe out there! There's no oxygen!"

"We know!" the French woman yelled over her shoulder. "We're not bringing _you _out _there_…"

Valerie dodged Seven's next blast, and came back up hissing murderously. Seven stared at the alien with cold, hard eyes, and prepared to fire once more.

Then a tiny shuttle flew in through the opened doorway, and knocked Valerie across the room.

It might've been an escape pod, for how tiny it was. A hatch opened, and the two women dragging Sela pulled her up the ramp into the vessel. Chakotay leapt onto the ramp, and was pulled the rest of the way by Seven. The ramp rose and shut before they were even finished running up, sending Chakotay and Seven tumbling the rest of the way in. Saluk or Valerie—they were impossible to tell apart at this point—clawed at the hatch just as it clamped shut.

The Ferangi sat at the helm, with his gloves and helmet off. "Are-are we going back to the ship, or are we just—"

The Orion, who'd just pulled off her gloves, shoved Quark right out of the chair and took his seat. The shuttle rose and they were soon soaring up through the organic corridors of the ship.

Seven was rummaging through a med kit. Without looking up she asked, "Quark, what's Lt. Ro's status?"

"Gross." The Ferangi wandered over to Seven, brushing himself off. "She's all covered in slimy veiny things. The two kids have her back on the ship,"

"_Skokie to Hanson! Heads up, there's two of them climbing the ship back here, trying to get in_!"

"And an aquatic creature is stuck to one of the windows." Thyk's voice came on, unnaturally calm. "I think it's looking at me."

"It's friendly!" Chakotay shouted. "The jellyfish! Let him in!"

Seven gently took Chakotay by the shoulders and urged him down into a sitting position, then began scanning him with a medical tricorder. Chakotay shot back up.

"I'm _not _delirious!" he insisted. "There's another prisoner on this ship! It's a sea creature, he talked to me and Sela! We've got to help him, he trusted us!"

"_The sea creature is drying out, I think_." Thyk noted.

"We can't beam anyone anywhere in this ship," Seven pulled her helmet off, and shook out her hair. "Otherwise we'd have done that with all of you in the first place."

"_Hang on_," Skokie said. "_I'm gonna try to open the hatch very quickly. Is there some way we can tell him—oh, never mind._"

"You don't have to tell her anything," Sela confirmed. "She's a telepath."

"_We've got him_." Skokie finished. "I'm putting up a forcefield around him…and telling the computer to fill it with…is H2O good? Or is that poisoned to it?"

If the squid had mentioned what kind of water it lived in, Chakotay and Sela couldn't remember.

"Try it." Sela shrugged.

"There's the ship." The Orion pilot said.

Out the window, Chakotay could see the Cardassian ship, still poking through the wall he and Sela had found it in. They were coming up at a different angle than he and Sela had first seen it from, one that didn't require passing through that forest of purple tendrils. Two of species 8472 were climbing on the ship's hull, clawing at the plating. Chakotay assumed these to be Saluk and Valerie.

"Nass, fire at will!" Seven ordered the Orion.

"Better idea," Nass said. "Watch this."

Nass fired a shot right over the aliens' heads, making them both look up sharply. The moment they did, she surged the tiny shuttle forward. One alien leapt out of the way just in time. The other was knocked over the window like a bug on a windshield, tumbling across the glass and off the ship. Once both aliens were visibly tangled in the webbings of their own ship, Nass curved around, and brought the shuttle back to her ship. Seven was already barking orders over the com to Skokie and Thyk. A hatch opened up in the ceiling of the ship, granting the little shuttle entry, like an escape pod returning home. Chakotay guessed that this shuttle originally had been a mere escape pod that came with this ship, but had been upgraded by its now owners after they commandeered it.

Chakotay and Sela were rushed to the Perfidia's medical wing by Seven and Quark, while Nass and the French woman—who everyone was just calling "Frenchy"—headed for the cockpit. The Perfidia's sickbay was tiny and dimly lit, and reminded Chakotay of how Voyager's sickbay had appeared in his dream. But this one at least had more than one bed. One was already occupied by Ro Laren. She looked like Harry Kim, after his attack by Species 8472, covered in tendrils. A young human doctor with blonde hair was giving her an update on her condition in a soft, flamboyant voice.

"…I'll inject you with these nanoprobes, and you'll be back to your horrible old self again Laren. Can I call you Laren?"

Ro stared at the doctor, then looked at Seven. "I think I preferred the Mark I."

Chakotay looked at the doctor. "You're a hologram?"

"EMH Mark II." Seven replied. "Nass and Christophe lifted his program from a damaged Federation vessel they were rummaging through. He's the same model as the hologram the Doctor fought the Romulans with, if you recall."

"Vaguely," Chakotay said, taking a seat on a biobed. "But you're not that same individual hologram?"

"Goodness no," the hologram began scanning Chakotay, while eying his naked upper body with mild glee. "_That _Mark II's on Risa, championing for hologram rights. I have no such interest in noble endeavors. All I'm concerned with right now is picking a name. I was thinking of something like _what_ the _shit _is _that?_"

The hologram pulled the towel down just a few inches to get a better look at the tendril that cut across Chakotay's stomach. Seven, who'd been scanning Sela, paused at looked over at Chakotay. She didn't offer much of a reaction, but from the way her blue eyes moved he could tell she was concerned. Chakotay didn't want to go into detail in front of her, so he gave the hologram the briefest recount he could.

"The Hirogen who attacked us on that planet, one of them cut me with a blade. Species 8472 healed the injury. Or tried to."

"I thought these aliens were advanced." The hologram wrinkled his nose, scanning the injury. "Whatever. I'm going to remove it and then heal you _properly_."

Chakotay's eyes widened slightly, as the hologram closed his tricorder and rummaged for another tool. "Will that hurt?"

The hologram turned back around and pressed a sedative into Chakotay's neck, and let him crumble backwards onto the bed unconscious.

"No."

* * *

**A/N: That attempted brain-rape was as uncomfortable to write as it was to read. In fact, a lot of this story has been uncomfortable to write. I hope it's worth it.**

**Just one or two more chapters of this acid trip...I hope. **


	6. Fool Me Once

**The Bond: Chapter 7**

* * *

Ro, Quark and Thyk had been trying to access a panel on the wall in the dark hallway, in an attempt to locate locate Valerie, when the panel had suddenly overloaded. Just a nanosecond before an electrical pulse shot out at Ro, Quark had moved to push her out of the way, and took the blast for her. They both landed on the floor, Quark's unconscious body rolling away from her. Thyk helped her up, both of them panting. Ro and Thyk were dragging the unconscious Ferengi to sickbay, when they heard the the sound of another plasma burst. Ro set Quark down and drew her phaser. She opened the sealed sickbay doors with one hand, and moved in, her phaser ready. No one was there, except the panicking squid in the tank, and the unmoving bodies of Seven and Chakotay on the floor. Ro and Thyk finished pulling Quark inside, and resealed the doors.

"All hands." Ro said, hitting her badge. "Chakotay and Hanson are unconscious—I hope. Quark too. Looks like a plasma burst…"

After Ro filled everyone in, Frenchy said, "_Nass got her hand burned, when she tried to scan for the alien_."

Sela's voice came on, calm but commanding. "_Keep searching until we find it. But be cautious."_

"_Excuse me Captain_," Frenchy said in slightly-mock politeness. "_This is _my_ ship. I think with Hanson down, I'll be giving the orders._"

"_Excuse_ me_, I am a Romulan commander, and you are a civilian mercenary_—"

"And I'm Security Chief, chosen by Seven as her second in command." Ro said over all of them. "But Sela's right, we need to keep looking. Don't let the alien intimidate you."

The squid was trilling madly, smacking against its force field. That would not do, Thyk thought. The squid's noise might bring the alien down on them. Actually, Valerie could find them in this tiny ship easily, anyway; but in the dark, with a member of Species 8472 on the loose, it was preferable that everyone remain as quiet as possible. Ro looked up at the alien, as if trying to make eye contact, but the alien had no eyes.

"They're fine," she said sternly, before actually leaning over to take Seven and Chakotay's pulses. Then she added to the squid, "Stop that, or you'll let Valerie know where we are."

The squid swelled up, and a couple of tiny sparks emitted over its bulbous body. Thyk thought it was going to do something extraordinary, but it turned out that this was just an expression of frustration. Thyk was curious about the aquatic alien. He had tried talking to her earlier, only to be sent out of sickbay by the holographic doctor.

"You're from a gas giant?" Thyk asked the alien.

"Thyk!" Ro rubbed her forehead with the ball of her hand. "Flirt later."

Thyk shut up. Once again, he found himself fantasizing about "flirting" with Valerie. If she could just fall madly for him, and forget all about poor Professor Chuck, spirit Thyk far away from this wrenched universe, that would solve everyone's problems.

Ro set Seven's unconscious body on a biobed, and moved to pick up Chakotay.

"Hey, Thyk, don't bother trying to help or anything. Your professor's a very light guy."

Realizing his rudeness, Thyk grabbed Chakotay's ankles and helped haul him onto a biobed.

"Constable Ro," Thky said after they'd dumped Quark onto a third bed, "Nothing can get inside this sickbay, can it?"

"Unless it's beamed in." Ro said. "And transporters are offline, of course."

"Not even her?" Thyk looked over Ro's shoulder, his antenna perking.

Ro spun around, to face the empty window. The minute her back was turned, Thyk raised his phaser and stunned her. He wince, as her head hit the hard edge of Quark's biobed. He hadn't thought that through. After confirming that Ro was okay, he hit his com badge.

"Thyk to Sela."

"Sela here."

"I need you in sickbay immediately."

"Just me?"

"Just you." Realizing this might sound suspicious, he added, "It concerns a mind-meld."

Thyk should not have been surprised to see Sela, Skokie, Nass and Frenchy when he opened the doors to sickbay. All had guns trained on him. Thyk held up a turquoise hand, and said to Skokie, "Shoot."

Skokie fired a blast into Thyk's hand. The Andorian stumbled back, his antenna curling painfully. But the important thing was, he'd proved he wasn't Valerie in disguise. The other four quickly entered, and sealed the doors behind them.

"Sela," Thyk said to the half-Romulan. "You're a military captain. If you could save most of the people on this ship by sacrificing one of them, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

Sela's gold eyes bore into Thyk's blue ones. "That's correct."

Frenchy shook her head. "Chakotay would never forgive us, boy. Sacrificing a young student, to save him, a grown man,"

"A young student, exactly." Thyk said. "Chakotay has done his share of exploring. I'm young. I deserve to relocate to another universe and evolve more than Chakotay does."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Nass shrugged, "She was going to do it to a guy she loved. The bond can't really hurt the kid, can it?"

"Nass, I doubt Valerie has any concept of 'love.'" Frenchy said.

"Agreed. But look, she said she wanted Chakotay for his 'peaceful mind.' That tells me she's not after something that's going to result in any kind of chaos or harm, right?"

"It could still go horribly wrong because their brains aren't' compatible, or some psychobabble." Frenchy said. "I won't let this boy get his little blue brain exploded over an experimental—"

"But you'll let us all get killed by Valerie one by one, and Chakotay get permanently brain-raped?" Thyk asked.

Skokie was staring at the ground. All he said was, "Pretty big decision Thyk. This isn't a one-night-stand you're talking about, it's marriage, and I don't think these guys have divorce."

Sela closed her eyes and shook her head. "You're pathetic, all of you. I've made a hundred decisions a hundred times more difficult than this one. You all came out here knowing you all probably wouldn't come back, and now you're stalling over a strange form of alien marriage?"

"Or a fate worse than death," Frenchy argued.

"I once allowed an entire away team to be assimilated by the Borg," Sela said flatly. "A team that included one of my oldest friends. Try and convince me that—" she stopped, seeing the frozen horror on ever face, even Thyk's. "If the alien starts to hurt Thyk, I'll personally beam her into the nearest star. If he can distract her long enough for us to kill her, great. If his little date works out and she wants to stay with him, even better."

Skokie was staring at Chakotay, on the biobed. "So what then, we replicate a marker and draw a little tattoo on you Thyk, or what? I mean, you and Professor C don't exactly look alike."

"The alien might be blind by now," Nass pointed out.

Thyk looked at Sela. "This is why I called you down here, Captain. You're the one who knows how to speak the alien's language. Maybe you can give me some lines?"

Sela looked back at the door once more, then lowered her gun. "Keep us covered," she said to Skokie and the other two women.

She and Thyk sat on the biobed, and Sela placed her hands on his forehead. "My mind to your mind…"

* * *

"Valerie" had wedged herself in the ceiling corner of a storage room, in the lower decks of the ship. Her injuries made sight impossible, save a swirl of dark colors. Her hearing was almost gone, and what was left was wrought with echoes and ringing. Smell was right out, since she could smell nothing but the screaming metallic stench of the naonprobes infecting her face and body. Some of her other senses—her ability to sense others beings electric energy and heart pulses—were still there, but hardly functioning at peak efficiency.

Valerie's life was one roll of turmoil after another. Wars with other aliens in fluidic space had speckled her early life. Then the Borg invasion, and losing most of her family-collective to the attacks. The threat of humans invading her universe. The peace she and her comrades had formed with the Voyager crew, and her short-lived relationship with Chakotay, was one of the only times she could recall feeling tranquil. After that, the conflicts she returned to back in fluidic space knocked her existence back into chaotic flux.

Chakotay was her hope of regaining the peace she had felt at that one time in her life. He was all she needed. And it was aggravating, how difficult he was to pin down and catch. Humanoids were like some of the small pests back in her home dimension—the creatures that were so easy to kill or trap once you caught them, but were constantly buzzing and darting out of the way faster than you could lay your hands on them. Some others in her clan had made hobbies out of catching such animals. Valerie had scoffed at them in her younger years. Now she wished she'd paid closer attention to how they'd done it.

She couldn't chase Chakotay any longer, not being this weak. But she could wait for him. Someone had to enter this room eventually. If it wasn't Chakotay, she'd take them down easily. When he arrived, she'd seize him and complete their bond. She was rehearsing it in her mind, over and over…he'd probably resist, again. He might die, like some of the others' choices had, while they resisted the bond. No, he wouldn't die, because she'd go about it differently this time. She'd bargain with him, the lives of his crew for a lifetime with her, and he'd agree. Once joined, their forms would change—as her kind normally did when bonded—and they'd each become more like each other. Whether he would be transforming into something like her, or if she would become stuck in that human form, she wasn't certain, and didn't care. Once joined, she'd take him back to the mock Starfleet Academy, and they'd relive that date.

"_Nice tattoo. I bet there's a story behind it." _

"_A long one." _

That memory was from Chakotay's point of view. And it was strong. He was nearby, and he was thinking of her!

Valerie braced herself.

Swirls of dark was still all she could see. She couldn't make out his form, that hideous human form. It was a horrible irony that such a peaceful, beautiful mind had to be held in such a putrid, two-legged form, with an interior skeleton and hair. Those who didn't know him couldn't be blamed for seeing her attraction to a human as such a perversion. His body was hideous. Except that tattoo. She liked it, and hoped it would remain, when he took his new form. Blue had become her favorite color, ever since meeting Chakotay…

_Their kiss outside Valerie's quarters, at "Starfleet Academy." _

_On Voyager, Seven of Nine, telling Chakotay in Astrometrics, "…your feelings for me could cause you pain…I can't allow that to happen…" _

_Captain Sela staring at him, easily answering a question that most people would have found difficult: "That's correct." _

Sacrifice. These memories revolved around it. Chakotay was surrendering, offering himself up in exchange for the rest of the ship. Had she been able to hear, she'd probably hear that ugly human voice of his, shouting the proposal at her. She liked this way of speaking much better.

She waited until she could feel his heartbeat and energy directly below her. Then, weakly, she released her hold on the metal ceiling, and fell with a soft thump (which she felt but did not hear). She grabbed him, and blindly felt for the base of his skull. With him offering no resistance this time, he seemed so small and light, it was almost unreal.

She sucked his essence greedily, at the bond was complete within less than a minute.

Her injuries began to feel less painful, as new health was one of the benefits directly following a mating bond. Her sight began ever so slightly to improve, though she was still as good as blind. It was too dark to see much anyway, but her hearing was starting to return, and his breathing beside her became audible. She began to shift through his thoughts, examining what she'd just impatiently taken for herself. Memories of Starfleet Academy. Lots of Starfleet Academy. More academy, in fact, than actual—

Memories of having Chakotay for a professor were what crushed it for her.

Valerie collapsed with a screech.

* * *

It had been a gamble. Thyk had prepared for the worst, or tried to. A slow, painful death; a swirl of confusing images he wouldn't be able to understand; his head exploding. (Actually, that he wouldn't have to prepare for, since he'd die before feeling anything, in that case.) None of those things happened. Thyk had a headache, but that wasn't what was keeping him momentarily distracted. It was the new mind he was now linked to. A lifetime in fluidic space, battles with the Borg, relationships with other members of Species 8472 that no Andorian, human, or other humanoid could understand. They were on the tip of Thyk's mind right now, like something he'd understand or remember later on, something that might hit him while lying awake in bed, eating breakfast, or taking a sonic shower.

Valerie was hissing on the floor. Her rage and pain, he realized, were the cause of his headache.

Sela, Nass, and Frenchy had their guns pointed at the alien. There was no telling what she'd do in her rage. Skokie meanwhile was working at a wall panel, in the dark. Suddenly, the lights came back on.

"Back up power's on!" Skokie announced proudly. "Might not last too long though,"

It took a moment for everyone's eyes to readjust to the light.

Once they did, they could see how Valerie's appearance had changed. Her purple hide was taking a blue hue. She melted back into her humanoid form…but different this time. She was Andorian—or maybe some human/Andorian hybrid. Her skin was sky blue, and she had antenna. Her curly hair had taken a white blonde coloring. Her eyes were still that same ice blue. She lay on her side, staring at Thyk.

"You tricked me."

"You were tricking yourself." Thyk said. "You didn't want the 'real' Chakotay anyway. You barely knew him."

"You're nothing…to him," Valerie whispered.

"Hey, give him some time," Skokie said. "Let Thyk finish his degree at the academy and get on a starship. He might become the next James T. Kirk for all we know."

"Unlikely." Thyk said. "But if it'll make you happy Valerie—"

"I'm not…Valerie!" she hissed. "Not Valerie anymore!"

"Changing your name?" Nass said.

The alien didn't answer.

Thyk examined his own hands. They looked the same. He turned to the black wall panel Skokie stood by, and moved to get a look at his reflection. He thought he looked the same, except for his eyes. The once-blue irises had taken a gold tint, and the black pupils had changed shape, looking almost reptilian. Like Species 8472, in its true form. Thyk then realized that he could see everything more clearly and sharply than he ever had before. He could see every little link in the chain on Ro's Bajoran earring. Could read the tiny labels on crates on the opposite side of the room. He felt the heartbeat of every person in the room, on the ship in fact.

His excitement was coupled with the underlying rage of being cheated out of Chakotay—correction, _Valerie's_ rage at being cheated out of Chakotay—oh this would take getting used to.

"This must be how a joined Trill feels," Thyk said to himself. Turning back to Valerie, he said diplomatically, "I'm not that horrible, am I. I may be conflicted, but at least I'm not in love with someone else, or an enraged half-Romulan, or a panic-attack-prone human,"

"Shut up." Valerie sighed.

She went limp, her eyes still half opened. She was still breathing (or whatever Species 8472 did in place of breathing).

"Is she unconscious?" Nass asked quietly.

Thyk's antenna moved, as he examined Valerie's thoughts. "She's…shut down for the moment. This is something normal, for her to do in times of stress."

"That'll be unconsciousness." Frenchy said. "So what. Do we beam her into a star now, or might that hurt Thyk?"

Everyone looked at Thyk.

"I'd prefer that we didn't kill her," he said. "I'd rather like to see how this plays out. Besides, Chakotay wouldn't want us to kill her, even if she deserves it."

"Does she?" Skokie said.

Sela looked at Skokie. "What she attempted on your teacher was essentially rape."

"Of a being far down the evolutionary scale." Skokie said. "I mean obviously it's wrong, but if I had my way with a tribble, would I deserve the same punishment as if I assaulted another humanoid?"

Nass squinted at Skokie. Sela was watching Valerie, but looked unsettled by what Skokie was saying.

Thyk pondered the idea. "I don't think tribbles have—"

"Enough," Sela made a slashing motion with her hand. "Save it for your philosophy class. I'm waking Hanson, and she's going to open a rift back up to Fluidic Space, so we can beam your new wife home." Remembering that this was Frenchy's ship, Sela asked, "Acceptable?"

Everyone nodded, or mumbled in agreement.

* * *

When Chakotay awoke, the lights were back on, and the blond hologram doctor was standing over him. He pushed himself up. His squid friend was still in her force field of water. In the bed next to him, Seven was lying still, looking around the room, her gold hair sprawled around the pillow.

"Rise and shine." The hologram said, moving on to awaken Ro Laren.

Quark was sitting on his bed, stretching. Sela and Thyk stood nearby, observing.

"What did I miss?" Chakotay groaned.

"Valerie's been subdued." Thyk said. "Also, I'm married."

Chakotay made a noise, rubbing his throbbing head. Then stopped, and looked up at his student. "_What_?"

"I made a command decision." Sela was looking at Chakotay emotionlessly, knowing he wouldn't forgive her. "We could either let Thyk take the hit for you, or beam Valerie into a star."

"We assumed you'd rather we 'make love and not war.'" Thyk finished.

Chakotay looked at the hologram. "You made sure Thyk wouldn't be hurt?"

"I was offline until a few minutes ago." The hologram shrugged.

Chakotay shot up from the bed and stormed towards the door. He stopped, to glare at Sela. "Where is she?"

"The storage unit," Sela said. "Lower deck."

Seven was sitting up, staring at Thyk, her blue eyes wide and hard.

"Hanson," Sela said. "We'll be needing you to open that rift again…"

Chakotay didn't stay to listen. He tore down the hall to the lift, and took it to the storage room. He found what looked like an Andorian woman sitting in the corner, with her knees pulled up against her, staring ahead blankly. She looked frozen. Her skin was a pale blue, and she had two thin antenna. Her hair was white-blonde, but its shape was Valerie's fluffy curls. The long blue face was Valerie's, and her eyes were the same shade of ice blue.

She didn't respond when he entered the room.

"Valerie!" he barked.

She jerked out of her trance, and her eyes moved up to him.

"Release Thyk!" he demanded.

"I can't." her eyes fell down to the floor. "Actually, I could. But a separation is extremely complex. It could take years."

"Then you'd better get started!"

Valerie didn't answer. Chakotay knelt and seized her shoulder.

"Thyk is a child!"

Valerie's lips parted a moment. Finally she mumbled, "Not for long."

Valerie was suddenly engulfed in a blue transporter hum, and vanished.

"All hands," Seven's voice came over the com. She sounded upset. "The alien has been returned to its domain. Nass, take us out."

* * *

Chakotay and Seven spent the next hour or so in sickbay, supervising while the hologram had a look at Thyk. Skokie sat in too, listening to his best friend's prognosis.

"He's retained more of his own mind than a joined Trill," the hologram said.

"He's not gonna evolve into a tub of jell-o?" Skokie asked dryly.

"Not yet," the hologram said. "Who knows what this is going to turn into."

"Thyk," Seven said. "You should come with me to Deep Space Nine. I believe Counselor Ezri Dax would be best suited out of everyone to…" her eyebrow arched. "Help you."

Frenchy's voice came over the com. "_Seven, Nass just detected a Federation ship approaching._"

Frenchy's voice seemed apprehensive, as if she were timidly asking Seven's permission to do something.

"That's a good thing," Skokie said. "Isn't it?"

"Eh," the hologram's eyes shifted nervously.

"When we're in range," Seven said, "Beam us all aboard the Federation vessel. You and Nass should then leave, while you can."

"_Right_."

Nass's voice added, "_Whose_ _taking_ _the_ _jellyfish_?"

"We are." Chakotay said. "Starfleet can see if they can't help her get back home."

The squid floated in her tank silently, probably asleep.

Moments later, the Frenchwoman entered sickbay. She made eye contact with Chakotay. Over the last few days, the two of them had spoken quite a bit about their experiences in the Maquis. She'd taken great joy in hearing stories about all the times Chakotay had rebelled against Starfleet authority on Voyager, and put Kathryn in her place. But she'd never once voiced any jealousy, nor admiration, for the fact that Chakotay had redeemed himself in Starfleet's eyes.

"Chakotay," she said. "I just," she stuck her hands on her belt and shrugged. "It was a pleasure to meet you. You and Ro both. It means something, that you two are…doing things. That some of us are still free, and…" she smiled tightly and swore to herself in French. "Well anyway, good bye. And…better luck to you in the future."

Chakotay nodded to his brief friend. "Good luck to you too, Fantine."

Frenchy then asked the whole room, "Anyone know where Lt. Ro is?"

"I saw her and Quark playing Codiscot in the lounge," Skokie said.

Frenchy bid them all one last goodbye, before leaving to say goodbye to Ro.

They sat in silence for a few more seconds. The hologram finally changed the subject.

"So here's the name I've been thinking of. So, your famous Voyager holo-doc, everyone just calls him 'the Doctor' right? Well I was thinking of something similar. Like, the Professor, or the Master, or—"

The beam-out happened suddenly, just then. The next thing Chakotay knew, he, Seven, Skokie, and Thyk were sitting on the floor of Voyager's sickbay. Ro and Quark were there too, sitting across from each other with their hands up, having been in the middle of their board game when abruptly beamed out. Sela stood nearby, her hands on her hips, and looked around her new surroundings. The squid had landed on one of the biobeds, and was trilling unhappily, looking like a deflated balloon.

The Doctor—_the_ Doctor—eyed them all curiously. "Seven! Chakotay,"

"Doctor," Seven rose. "We need to place the alien in a tank of water."

Chakotay gingerly picked up the squid with both hands. She was quite light, despite having the bulk of a beach ball. He carried her to a corner near the Jeffrey's tube, where the Doc activated a force field, and ordered the computer to fill it with water. They watched the squid inflate back into her healthy shape, as she rose up into the filling tank. That poor mollusk, Chakotay thought, had possibly had a nastier time than anyone over the last few days.

Sickbay's doors hissed opened, and Admiral Janeway entered. It was an odd feeling, seeing her back on Voyager, with her hair up in that regal sweep she'd worn in her earliest years in the Delta Quadrant. The nostalgia was killed by her modern Starfleet uniform, with the gray shoulders and the red under-collar.

"And just where the hell have you two been?" she asked Seven and Chakotay, half-humorously.

"You first." Chakotay said.

"We just helped the Enterprise rescue Jean-Luc Picard from a group of Species 8472 that wanted to probe his mind for information about the Borg and our universe. I assume they wanted something similar from you Chakotay?"

"No," Chakotay's eyes went to Thyk for a second. "No, they wanted something more personal." He looked back at his old friend. "It was Valerie, Kathryn. Valerie Archer."

Janeway looked away a moment, inadvertently showing off her French braid. She turned back and surveyed the crowd that had been beamed in. "Lt. Ro," she'd never met the Bajoran, but knew who the security chief of Deep Space Nine was. "Commander Sela,"

"Captain." the half-Romulan corrected her.

"Captain. My apologies." Janeway thought it over. "You four. Captain Sela, Lt. Ro, Chakotay, Seven. My ready room. Please."

* * *

Chakotay, Sela, Seven, Ro and Thyk gave testimonies to Starfleet authorities, and Romulan Command. Seven managed to avoid being taken to court, since she had technically done nothing illegal with her private rescue mission that Starfleet could pin on her. Had anyone mentioned what she'd paid Frenchy and Nass with, it would have been quite different. No one dared. The two mercenaries were last seen taking off at maximum warp towards the wormhole that led to the Delta Quadrant.

Chakotay and Skokie had returned to the academy. Thyk was being kept at Starfleet Medical, while they tried to find out exactly what had happened to the young Andorran's brain, and what he could tell them about Species 8472. Chakotay was fighting to get Thyk some privacy, terrified of Starfleet trying to turn his student into some kind of secret weapon for them. It wasn't going well. Counselor Ezri Dax had taken leave from DS9 to help Thyk adjust to "joined" life—since she herself was one of the only Trill to undergo a sudden, un-prepared joining, and had some experience in the matter. Deanna Troi, meanwhile, was taking visits from Chakotay and Seven, whose wedding had been postponed. Things were strained.

A good several months passed before things began to quiet down again. Starfleet finally managed to set up a base outside the wormhole to the Delta Quadrant to control who came in and out, not unlike DS9's wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Species 8472 began returning abducted people to their planets of origin, and it soon became clear that back in Fluidic Space, the powers-that-be were cracking down on those who tried to stick their noses into universes they didn't belong. Two of them arrived at the Jupiter Station, where Chakotay and Sela's jellyfish friend was being kept; the aliens, in human forms, informed the staff that they'd be returning the jellyfish to her home planet, and then did so.

Chakotay entered Deep Space Nine's holodeck to find it already crowded with patrons, real and holographic. Seven was waiting for him at a table near the stage, looking breathtaking in a glittering red tube-top dress, with her hair swept over one shoulder. Her glamorous make-up reminded him of the WWII simulation the Voyager crew had once been trapped it. Her bloodred lipstick and black feather boa gave her a very "femme fatale" look. Chakotay suddenly felt underdressed, in his plain black suit.

Vic Fontaine and the Doctor were on the stage, doing a duet. ("Blue Skies.") Chakotay greeted Seven silently, and took a seat beside her. When the song ended, Chakotay took Seven's chin and gave her a kiss.

"You look gorgeous, Seven," he said quietly, over the sound of applause for the two holograms.

Before Seven could reply, Ezri Dax stopped in front of them, dressed in the glittering tutu-like outfit of a waitress. "Drinks?" she asked, lowering her tray.

Seven and Chakotay graciously took a glass each.

"Holographic, right?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm not sure. Taste it and let me know."

Chakotay paused to take a sip, and made a face. "It's real. Go easy, Seven."

The former drone had virtually no tolerance for alcohol, and took the tiniest of sips.

"I'm glad things are working out," Ezri said.

"How's Thyk doing?" Chakotay asked.

"Could be better, could be worse. He's starting to miss his individuality. I think he and that alien are due for a divorce, however that's gonna work." Ezri shrugged. "He's doing fine in all his classes though. The merging didn't interfere with his work at the academy—"

"…and now," Vic Fontaine was speaking into his microphone. "Up next, Annie Hanson! The song, 'It Had to be You!'"

Seven went up to the stage, passing the Doctor, who took her empty seat next to Chakotay. Ezri left to fetch the Doc a holographic drink. The Doctor and Chakotay watched Seven spotlighted on the stage, as she lost herself in the music. There was a lot to talk about tonight—the new date for his and Seven's wedding, the added invitation to Sela, Thyk requesting another vision quest. Chakotay decided to let it all drop out of his mind, just for the next few minutes, and lose himself in Seven's song.

"_It had to be you…it had to be you…I wandered around and finally found somebody who…could make me be true…!_"

* * *

**A/N: I took a leaf out of Neal Stephenson's book (har har), and decided to end my story like he usually does; just stop writing, in the middle of a scene. I can't tell y'all how liberating it feels, to finish a story and have it posted. I enjoyed this one, but I am so glad to have it out of my hair. **

**I might possibly recycle some of the OCs I made for this story with other ones, who knows. But hopefully, my focus will be on the stories I already have in-progress. I hope to make more progress on my Mirror Universe fic ("Fairest in the Universe,"), or my fan-babies story ("The 26****th**** Year.").  
**

**Cheshire Cheese out. **


	7. The Bond

**The Bond: Chapter 7**

* * *

Ro, Quark and Thyk had been trying to access a panel on the wall in the dark hallway, in an attempt to locate locate Valerie, when the panel had suddenly overloaded. Just a nanosecond before an electrical pulse shot out at Ro, Quark had moved to push her out of the way, and took the blast for her. They both landed on the floor, Quark's unconscious body rolling away from her. Thyk helped her up, both of them panting. Ro and Thyk were dragging the unconscious Ferengi to sickbay, when they heard the the sound of another plasma burst. Ro set Quark down and drew her phaser. She opened the sealed sickbay doors with one hand, and moved in, her phaser ready. No one was there, except the panicking squid in the tank, and the unmoving bodies of Seven and Chakotay on the floor. Ro and Thyk finished pulling Quark inside, and resealed the doors.

"All hands." Ro said, hitting her badge. "Chakotay and Hanson are unconscious—I hope. Quark too. Looks like a plasma burst…"

After Ro filled everyone in, Frenchy said, "_Nass got her hand burned, when she tried to scan for the alien_."

Sela's voice came on, calm but commanding. "_Keep searching until we find it. But be cautious."_

"_Excuse me Captain_," Frenchy said in slightly-mock politeness. "_This is _my_ ship. I think with Hanson down, I'll be giving the orders._"

"_Excuse_ me_, I am a Romulan commander, and you are a civilian mercenary_—"

"And I'm Security Chief, chosen by Seven as her second in command." Ro said over all of them. "But Sela's right, we need to keep looking. Don't let the alien intimidate you."

The squid was trilling madly, smacking against its force field. That would not do, Thyk thought. The squid's noise might bring the alien down on them. Actually, Valerie could find them in this tiny ship easily, anyway; but in the dark, with a member of Species 8472 on the loose, it was preferable that everyone remain as quiet as possible. Ro looked up at the alien, as if trying to make eye contact, but the alien had no eyes.

"They're fine," she said sternly, before actually leaning over to take Seven and Chakotay's pulses. Then she added to the squid, "Stop that, or you'll let Valerie know where we are."

The squid swelled up, and a couple of tiny sparks emitted over its bulbous body. Thyk thought it was going to do something extraordinary, but it turned out that this was just an expression of frustration. Thyk was curious about the aquatic alien. He had tried talking to her earlier, only to be sent out of sickbay by the holographic doctor.

"You're from a gas giant?" Thyk asked the alien.

"Thyk!" Ro rubbed her forehead with the ball of her hand. "Flirt later."

Thyk shut up. Once again, he found himself fantasizing about "flirting" with Valerie. If she could just fall madly for him, and forget all about poor Professor Chuck, spirit Thyk far away from this wrenched universe, that would solve everyone's problems.

Ro set Seven's unconscious body on a biobed, and moved to pick up Chakotay.

"Hey, Thyk, don't bother trying to help or anything. Your professor's a very light guy."

Realizing his rudeness, Thyk grabbed Chakotay's ankles and helped haul him onto a biobed.

"Constable Ro," Thky said after they'd dumped Quark onto a third bed, "Nothing can get inside this sickbay, can it?"

"Unless it's beamed in." Ro said. "And transporters are offline, of course."

"Not even her?" Thyk looked over Ro's shoulder, his antenna perking.

Ro spun around, to face the empty window. The minute her back was turned, Thyk raised his phaser and stunned her. He wince, as her head hit the hard edge of Quark's biobed. He hadn't thought that through. After confirming that Ro was okay, he hit his com badge.

"Thyk to Sela."

"Sela here."

"I need you in sickbay immediately."

"Just me?"

"Just you." Realizing this might sound suspicious, he added, "It concerns a mind-meld."

Thyk should not have been surprised to see Sela, Skokie, Nass and Frenchy when he opened the doors to sickbay. All had guns trained on him. Thyk held up a turquoise hand, and said to Skokie, "Shoot."

Skokie fired a blast into Thyk's hand. The Andorian stumbled back, his antenna curling painfully. But the important thing was, he'd proved he wasn't Valerie in disguise. The other four quickly entered, and sealed the doors behind them.

"Sela," Thyk said to the half-Romulan. "You're a military captain. If you could save most of the people on this ship by sacrificing one of them, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

Sela's gold eyes bore into Thyk's blue ones. "That's correct."

Frenchy shook her head. "Chakotay would never forgive us, boy. Sacrificing a young student, to save him, a grown man,"

"A young student, exactly." Thyk said. "Chakotay has done his share of exploring. I'm young. I deserve to relocate to another universe and evolve more than Chakotay does."

Everyone exchanged glances.

Nass shrugged, "She was going to do it to a guy she loved. The bond can't really hurt the kid, can it?"

"Nass, I doubt Valerie has any concept of 'love.'" Frenchy said.

"Agreed. But look, she said she wanted Chakotay for his 'peaceful mind.' That tells me she's not after something that's going to result in any kind of chaos or harm, right?"

"It could still go horribly wrong because their brains aren't' compatible, or some psychobabble." Frenchy said. "I won't let this boy get his little blue brain exploded over an experimental—"

"But you'll let us all get killed by Valerie one by one, and Chakotay get permanently brain-raped?" Thyk asked.

Skokie was staring at the ground. All he said was, "Pretty big decision Thyk. This isn't a one-night-stand you're talking about, it's marriage, and I don't think these guys have divorce."

Sela closed her eyes and shook her head. "You're pathetic, all of you. I've made a hundred decisions a hundred times more difficult than this one. You all came out here knowing you all probably wouldn't come back, and now you're stalling over a strange form of alien marriage?"

"Or a fate worse than death," Frenchy argued.

"I once allowed an entire away team to be assimilated by the Borg," Sela said flatly. "A team that included one of my oldest friends. Try and convince me that—" she stopped, seeing the frozen horror on ever face, even Thyk's. "If the alien starts to hurt Thyk, I'll personally beam her into the nearest star. If he can distract her long enough for us to kill her, great. If his little date works out and she wants to stay with him, even better."

Skokie was staring at Chakotay, on the biobed. "So what then, we replicate a marker and draw a little tattoo on you Thyk, or what? I mean, you and Professor C don't exactly look alike."

"The alien might be blind by now," Nass pointed out.

Thyk looked at Sela. "This is why I called you down here, Captain. You're the one who knows how to speak the alien's language. Maybe you can give me some lines?"

Sela looked back at the door once more, then lowered her gun. "Keep us covered," she said to Skokie and the other two women.

She and Thyk sat on the biobed, and Sela placed her hands on his forehead. "My mind to your mind…"

* * *

"Valerie" had wedged herself in the ceiling corner of a storage room, in the lower decks of the ship. Her injuries made sight impossible, save a swirl of dark colors. Her hearing was almost gone, and what was left was wrought with echoes and ringing. Smell was right out, since she could smell nothing but the screaming metallic stench of the naonprobes infecting her face and body. Some of her other senses—her ability to sense others beings electric energy and heart pulses—were still there, but hardly functioning at peak efficiency.

Valerie's life was one roll of turmoil after another. Wars with other aliens in fluidic space had speckled her early life. Then the Borg invasion, and losing most of her family-collective to the attacks. The threat of humans invading her universe. The peace she and her comrades had formed with the Voyager crew, and her short-lived relationship with Chakotay, was one of the only times she could recall feeling tranquil. After that, the conflicts she returned to back in fluidic space knocked her existence back into chaotic flux.

Chakotay was her hope of regaining the peace she had felt at that one time in her life. He was all she needed. And it was aggravating, how difficult he was to pin down and catch. Humanoids were like some of the small pests back in her home dimension—the creatures that were so easy to kill or trap once you caught them, but were constantly buzzing and darting out of the way faster than you could lay your hands on them. Some others in her clan had made hobbies out of catching such animals. Valerie had scoffed at them in her younger years. Now she wished she'd paid closer attention to how they'd done it.

She couldn't chase Chakotay any longer, not being this weak. But she could wait for him. Someone had to enter this room eventually. If it wasn't Chakotay, she'd take them down easily. When he arrived, she'd seize him and complete their bond. She was rehearsing it in her mind, over and over…he'd probably resist, again. He might die, like some of the others' choices had, while they resisted the bond. No, he wouldn't die, because she'd go about it differently this time. She'd bargain with him, the lives of his crew for a lifetime with her, and he'd agree. Once joined, their forms would change—as her kind normally did when bonded—and they'd each become more like each other. Whether he would be transforming into something like her, or if she would become stuck in that human form, she wasn't certain, and didn't care. Once joined, she'd take him back to the mock Starfleet Academy, and they'd relive that date.

"_Nice tattoo. I bet there's a story behind it." _

"_A long one." _

That memory was from Chakotay's point of view. And it was strong. He was nearby, and he was thinking of her!

Valerie braced herself.

Swirls of dark was still all she could see. She couldn't make out his form, that hideous human form. It was a horrible irony that such a peaceful, beautiful mind had to be held in such a putrid, two-legged form, with an interior skeleton and hair. Those who didn't know him couldn't be blamed for seeing her attraction to a human as such a perversion. His body was hideous. Except that tattoo. She liked it, and hoped it would remain, when he took his new form. Blue had become her favorite color, ever since meeting Chakotay…

_Their kiss outside Valerie's quarters, at "Starfleet Academy." _

_On Voyager, Seven of Nine, telling Chakotay in Astrometrics, "…your feelings for me could cause you pain…I can't allow that to happen…" _

_Captain Sela staring at him, easily answering a question that most people would have found difficult: "That's correct." _

Sacrifice. These memories revolved around it. Chakotay was surrendering, offering himself up in exchange for the rest of the ship. Had she been able to hear, she'd probably hear that ugly human voice of his, shouting the proposal at her. She liked this way of speaking much better.

She waited until she could feel his heartbeat and energy directly below her. Then, weakly, she released her hold on the metal ceiling, and fell with a soft thump (which she felt but did not hear). She grabbed him, and blindly felt for the base of his skull. With him offering no resistance this time, he seemed so small and light, it was almost unreal.

She sucked his essence greedily, at the bond was complete within less than a minute.

Her injuries began to feel less painful, as new health was one of the benefits directly following a mating bond. Her sight began ever so slightly to improve, though she was still as good as blind. It was too dark to see much anyway, but her hearing was starting to return, and his breathing beside her became audible. She began to shift through his thoughts, examining what she'd just impatiently taken for herself. Memories of Starfleet Academy. Lots of Starfleet Academy. More academy, in fact, than actual—

Memories of having Chakotay for a professor were what crushed it for her.

Valerie collapsed with a screech.

It had been a gamble. Thyk had prepared for the worst, or tried to. A slow, painful death; a swirl of confusing images he wouldn't be able to understand; his head exploding. (Actually, that he wouldn't have to prepare for, since he'd die before feeling anything, in that case.) None of those things happened. Thyk had a headache, but that wasn't what was keeping him momentarily distracted. It was the new mind he was now linked to. A lifetime in fluidic space, battles with the Borg, relationships with other members of Species 8472 that no Andorian, human, or other humanoid could understand. They were on the tip of Thyk's mind right now, like something he'd understand or remember later on, something that might hit him while lying awake in bed, eating breakfast, or taking a sonic shower.

Valerie was hissing on the floor. Her rage and pain, he realized, were the cause of his headache.

Sela, Nass, and Frenchy had their guns pointed at the alien. There was no telling what she'd do in her rage. Skokie meanwhile was working at a wall panel, in the dark. Suddenly, the lights came back on.

"Back up power's on!" Skokie announced proudly. "Might not last too long though,"

It took a moment for everyone's eyes to readjust to the light.

Once they did, they could see how Valerie's appearance had changed. Her purple hide was taking a blue hue. She melted back into her humanoid form…but different this time. She was Andorian—or maybe some human/Andorian hybrid. Her skin was sky blue, and she had antenna. Her curly hair had taken a white blonde coloring. Her eyes were still that same ice blue. She lay on her side, staring at Thyk.

"You tricked me."

"You were tricking yourself." Thyk said. "You didn't want the 'real' Chakotay anyway. You barely knew him."

"You're nothing…to him," Valerie whispered.

"Hey, give him some time," Skokie said. "Let Thyk finish his degree at the academy and get on a starship. He might become the next James T. Kirk for all we know."

"Unlikely." Thyk said. "But if it'll make you happy Valerie—"

"I'm not…Valerie!" she hissed. "Not Valerie anymore!"

"Changing your name?" Nass said.

The alien didn't answer.

Thyk examined his own hands. They looked the same. He turned to the black wall panel Skokie stood by, and moved to get a look at his reflection. He thought he looked the same, except for his eyes. The once-blue irises had taken a gold tint, and the black pupils had changed shape, looking almost reptilian. Like Species 8472, in its true form. Thyk then realized that he could see everything more clearly and sharply than he ever had before. He could see every little link in the chain on Ro's Bajoran earring. Could read the tiny labels on crates on the opposite side of the room. He felt the heartbeat of every person in the room, on the ship in fact.

His excitement was coupled with the underlying rage of being cheated out of Chakotay—correction, _Valerie's_ rage at being cheated out of Chakotay—oh this would take getting used to.

"This must be how a joined Trill feels," Thyk said to himself. Turning back to Valerie, he said diplomatically, "I'm not that horrible, am I. I may be conflicted, but at least I'm not in love with someone else, or an enraged half-Romulan, or a panic-attack-prone human,"

"Shut up." Valerie sighed.

She went limp, her eyes still half opened. She was still breathing (or whatever Species 8472 did in place of breathing).

"Is she unconscious?" Nass asked quietly.

Thyk's antenna moved, as he examined Valerie's thoughts. "She's…shut down for the moment. This is something normal, for her to do in times of stress."

"That'll be unconsciousness." Frenchy said. "So what. Do we beam her into a star now, or might that hurt Thyk?"

Everyone looked at Thyk.

"I'd prefer that we didn't kill her," he said. "I'd rather like to see how this plays out. Besides, Chakotay wouldn't want us to kill her, even if she deserves it."

"Does she?" Skokie said.

Sela looked at Skokie. "What she attempted on your teacher was essentially rape."

"Of a being far down the evolutionary scale." Skokie said. "I mean obviously it's wrong, but if I had my way with a tribble, would I deserve the same punishment as if I assaulted another humanoid?"

Nass squinted at Skokie. Sela was watching Valerie, but looked unsettled by what Skokie was saying.

Thyk pondered the idea. "I don't think tribbles have—"

"Enough," Sela made a slashing motion with her hand. "Save it for your philosophy class. I'm waking Hanson, and she's going to open a rift back up to Fluidic Space, so we can beam your new wife home." Remembering that this was Frenchy's ship, Sela asked, "Acceptable?"

Everyone nodded, or mumbled in agreement.

* * *

When Chakotay awoke, the lights were back on, and the blond hologram doctor was standing over him. He pushed himself up. His squid friend was still in her force field of water. In the bed next to him, Seven was lying still, looking around the room, her gold hair sprawled around the pillow.

"Rise and shine." The hologram said, moving on to awaken Ro Laren.

Quark was sitting on his bed, stretching. Sela and Thyk stood nearby, observing.

"What did I miss?" Chakotay groaned.

"Valerie's been subdued." Thyk said. "Also, I'm married."

Chakotay made a noise, rubbing his throbbing head. Then stopped, and looked up at his student. "_What_?"

"I made a command decision." Sela was looking at Chakotay emotionlessly, knowing he wouldn't forgive her. "We could either let Thyk take the hit for you, or beam Valerie into a star."

"We assumed you'd rather we 'make love and not war.'" Thyk finished.

Chakotay looked at the hologram. "You made sure Thyk wouldn't be hurt?"

"I was offline until a few minutes ago." The hologram shrugged.

Chakotay shot up from the bed and stormed towards the door. He stopped, to glare at Sela. "Where is she?"

"The storage unit," Sela said. "Lower deck."

Seven was sitting up, staring at Thyk, her blue eyes wide and hard.

"Hanson," Sela said. "We'll be needing you to open that rift again…"

Chakotay didn't stay to listen. He tore down the hall to the lift, and took it to the storage room. He found what looked like an Andorian woman sitting in the corner, with her knees pulled up against her, staring ahead blankly. She looked frozen. Her skin was a pale blue, and she had two thin antenna. Her hair was white-blonde, but its shape was Valerie's fluffy curls. The long blue face was Valerie's, and her eyes were the same shade of ice blue.

She didn't respond when he entered the room.

"Valerie!" he barked.

She jerked out of her trance, and her eyes moved up to him.

"Release Thyk!" he demanded.

"I can't." her eyes fell down to the floor. "Actually, I could. But a separation is extremely complex. It could take years."

"Then you'd better get started!"

Valerie didn't answer. Chakotay knelt and seized her shoulder.

"Thyk is a child!"

Valerie's lips parted a moment. Finally she mumbled, "Not for long."

Valerie was suddenly engulfed in a blue transporter hum, and vanished.

"All hands," Seven's voice came over the com. She sounded upset. "The alien has been returned to its domain. Nass, take us out."

* * *

Chakotay and Seven spent the next hour or so in sickbay, supervising while the hologram had a look at Thyk. Skokie sat in too, listening to his best friend's prognosis.

"He's retained more of his own mind than a joined Trill," the hologram said.

"He's not gonna evolve into a tub of jell-o?" Skokie asked dryly.

"Not yet," the hologram said. "Who knows what this is going to turn into."

"Thyk," Seven said. "You should come with me to Deep Space Nine. I believe Counselor Ezri Dax would be best suited out of everyone to…" her eyebrow arched. "Help you."

Frenchy's voice came over the com. "_Seven, Nass just detected a Federation ship approaching._"

Frenchy's voice seemed apprehensive, as if she were timidly asking Seven's permission to do something.

"That's a good thing," Skokie said. "Isn't it?"

"Eh," the hologram's eyes shifted nervously.

"When we're in range," Seven said, "Beam us all aboard the Federation vessel. You and Nass should then leave, while you can."

"_Right_."

Nass's voice added, "_Whose_ _taking_ _the_ _jellyfish_?"

"We are." Chakotay said. "Starfleet can see if they can't help her get back home."

The squid floated in her tank silently, probably asleep.

Moments later, the Frenchwoman entered sickbay. She made eye contact with Chakotay. Over the last few days, the two of them had spoken quite a bit about their experiences in the Maquis. She'd taken great joy in hearing stories about all the times Chakotay had rebelled against Starfleet authority on Voyager, and put Kathryn in her place. But she'd never once voiced any jealousy, nor admiration, for the fact that Chakotay had redeemed himself in Starfleet's eyes.

"Chakotay," she said. "I just," she stuck her hands on her belt and shrugged. "It was a pleasure to meet you. You and Ro both. It means something, that you two are…doing things. That some of us are still free, and…" she smiled tightly and swore to herself in French. "Well anyway, good bye. And…better luck to you in the future."

Chakotay nodded to his brief friend. "Good luck to you too, Fantine."

Frenchy then asked the whole room, "Anyone know where Lt. Ro is?"

"I saw her and Quark playing Codiscot in the lounge," Skokie said.

Frenchy bid them all one last goodbye, before leaving to say goodbye to Ro.

They sat in silence for a few more seconds. The hologram finally changed the subject.

"So here's the name I've been thinking of. So, your famous Voyager holo-doc, everyone just calls him 'the Doctor' right? Well I was thinking of something similar. Like, the Professor, or the Master, or—"

The beam-out happened suddenly, just then. The next thing Chakotay knew, he, Seven, Skokie, and Thyk were sitting on the floor of Voyager's sickbay. Ro and Quark were there too, sitting across from each other with their hands up, having been in the middle of their board game when abruptly beamed out. Sela stood nearby, her hands on her hips, and looked around her new surroundings. The squid had landed on one of the biobeds, and was trilling unhappily, looking like a deflated balloon.

The Doctor—_the_ Doctor—eyed them all curiously. "Seven! Chakotay,"

"Doctor," Seven rose. "We need to place the alien in a tank of water."

Chakotay gingerly picked up the squid with both hands. She was quite light, despite having the bulk of a beach ball. He carried her to a corner near the Jeffrey's tube, where the Doc activated a force field, and ordered the computer to fill it with water. They watched the squid inflate back into her healthy shape, as she rose up into the filling tank. That poor mollusk, Chakotay thought, had possibly had a nastier time than anyone over the last few days.

Sickbay's doors hissed opened, and Admiral Janeway entered. It was an odd feeling, seeing her back on Voyager, with her hair up in that regal sweep she'd worn in her earliest years in the Delta Quadrant. The nostalgia was killed by her modern Starfleet uniform, with the gray shoulders and the red under-collar.

"And just where the hell have you two been?" she asked Seven and Chakotay, half-humorously.

"You first." Chakotay said.

"We just helped the Enterprise rescue Jean-Luc Picard from a group of Species 8472 that wanted to probe his mind for information about the Borg and our universe. I assume they wanted something similar from you Chakotay?"

"No," Chakotay's eyes went to Thyk for a second. "No, they wanted something more personal." He looked back at his old friend. "It was Valerie, Kathryn. Valerie Archer."

Janeway looked away a moment, inadvertently showing off her French braid. She turned back and surveyed the crowd that had been beamed in. "Lt. Ro," she'd never met the Bajoran, but knew who the security chief of Deep Space Nine was. "Commander Sela,"

"Captain." the half-Romulan corrected her.

"Captain. My apologies." Janeway thought it over. "You four. Captain Sela, Lt. Ro, Chakotay, Seven. My ready room. Please."

* * *

Chakotay, Sela, Seven, Ro and Thyk gave testimonies to Starfleet authorities, and Romulan Command. Seven managed to avoid being taken to court, since she had technically done nothing illegal with her private rescue mission that Starfleet could pin on her. Had anyone mentioned what she'd paid Frenchy and Nass with, it would have been quite different. No one dared. The two mercenaries were last seen taking off at maximum warp towards the wormhole that led to the Delta Quadrant.

Chakotay and Skokie had returned to the academy. Thyk was being kept at Starfleet Medical, while they tried to find out exactly what had happened to the young Andorran's brain, and what he could tell them about Species 8472. Chakotay was fighting to get Thyk some privacy, terrified of Starfleet trying to turn his student into some kind of secret weapon for them. It wasn't going well. Counselor Ezri Dax had taken leave from DS9 to help Thyk adjust to "joined" life—since she herself was one of the only Trill to undergo a sudden, un-prepared joining, and had some experience in the matter. Deanna Troi, meanwhile, was taking visits from Chakotay and Seven, whose wedding had been postponed. Things were strained.

A good several months passed before things began to quiet down again. Starfleet finally managed to set up a base outside the wormhole to the Delta Quadrant to control who came in and out, not unlike DS9's wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Species 8472 began returning abducted people to their planets of origin, and it soon became clear that back in Fluidic Space, the powers-that-be were cracking down on those who tried to stick their noses into universes they didn't belong. Two of them arrived at the Jupiter Station, where Chakotay and Sela's jellyfish friend was being kept; the aliens, in human forms, informed the staff that they'd be returning the jellyfish to her home planet, and then did so.

Chakotay entered Deep Space Nine's holodeck to find it already crowded with patrons, real and holographic. Seven was waiting for him at a table near the stage, looking breathtaking in a glittering red tube-top dress, with her hair swept over one shoulder. Her glamorous make-up reminded him of the WWII simulation the Voyager crew had once been trapped it. Her bloodred lipstick and black feather boa gave her a very "femme fatale" look. Chakotay suddenly felt underdressed, in his plain black suit.

Vic Fontaine and the Doctor were on the stage, doing a duet. ("Blue Skies.") Chakotay greeted Seven silently, and took a seat beside her. When the song ended, Chakotay took Seven's chin and gave her a kiss.

"You look gorgeous, Seven," he said quietly, over the sound of applause for the two holograms.

Before Seven could reply, Ezri Dax stopped in front of them, dressed in the glittering tutu-like outfit of a waitress. "Drinks?" she asked, lowering her tray.

Seven and Chakotay graciously took a glass each.

"Holographic, right?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm not sure. Taste it and let me know."

Chakotay paused to take a sip, and made a face. "It's real. Go easy, Seven."

The former drone had virtually no tolerance for alcohol, and took the tiniest of sips.

"I'm glad things are working out," Ezri said.

"How's Thyk doing?" Chakotay asked.

"Could be better, could be worse. He's starting to miss his individuality. I think he and that alien are due for a divorce, however that's gonna work." Ezri shrugged. "He's doing fine in all his classes though. The merging didn't interfere with his work at the academy—"

"…and now," Vic Fontaine was speaking into his microphone. "Up next, Annie Hanson! The song, 'It Had to be You!'"

Seven went up to the stage, passing the Doctor, who took her empty seat next to Chakotay. Ezri left to fetch the Doc a holographic drink. The Doctor and Chakotay watched Seven spotlighted on the stage, as she lost herself in the music. There was a lot to talk about tonight—the new date for his and Seven's wedding, the added invitation to Sela, Thyk requesting another vision quest. Chakotay decided to let it all drop out of his mind, just for the next few minutes, and lose himself in Seven's song.

"_It had to be you…it had to be you…I wandered around and finally found somebody who…could make me be true…_"

* * *

**A/N: I took a leaf out of Neal Stephenson's book (har har), and decided to end my story like he usually does; just stop writing, in the middle of a scene. I can't tell y'all how liberating it feels, to finish a story and have it posted. I enjoyed this one, but I am so glad to have it out of my hair. **

**I might possibly recycle some of the Ocs I made for this story with other ones, who knows. But hopefully, my focus will be on the stories I already have in-progress. I hope to make more progress on my Mirror Universe fic ("Fairest in the Universe,"), or my fan-babies story ("The 26****th**** Year."). From now on, I only add to already existing stories, or post one-shots. No more new big-ones, until I finish one I've already begun! **

**Cheshire Cheese out. **


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